Kuldeep Yadav, the Chinaman bowler became a sensation in a matter of sensation as he helped India get back into the virtual final of Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Dharamsala. Australia dominated the first session as David Warner and Steven Smith scored half-centuries. Yadav was given just an over or two before the lunch break.
Australia were 131 for 1 when they came out to bat for the second session. What happened next was going to make headlines of the next day’s newspaper.
The 22-year-old youngster showed promise in the initial overs slowing down the flow of runs. The debutant was trusted by stand-in captain Rahane over top-ranked Test bowlers Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin and he repaid the faith of his skipper.
Kuldeep bowled a delivery which extracted bounce from the pitch when Warner went deep into the crease and tried to cut that delivery towards backward point. The ball hit the top of the bat taking a sharp edge to Rahane at first slip who took a marvellous catch to help Kuldeep take his debut wicket.
As soon as Kuldeep took the wicket he jumped in the air pumping his fists, then he ran to his captain Rahane and hugged him with tears in his eyes. It was an emotional moment for the youngster as Rahane gave him freedom to set field according to him.
Kuldeep did not just stop there and took the wicket of Peter Handscomb with a beauty of delivery luring him into a drive, the ball turned fiercely and rattled the stumps leaving everyone stunned. He got the wicket of Glenn Maxwell as well with a googly as the Ranchi-centurion could not decide whether to come forward or go back.
After the second session, India were dominating having taken 5 wickets for 77 runs after the lunch break. Pat Cummins and Mathew Wade were forming a partnership. Cummins was trying to do Mitchell Starc’s job by scoring runs via boundaries. Kuldeep was introduced into the attack and he dismissed Cummins off a caught and bowled.
His bowling performance helped India wrap up Australia’s first innings at 300 with 1 over to spare on Day 1.
