Kuldeep Yadav was one of the trending names on social media on Friday. He was playing a Test for India after 22 months and left no stone unturned in hogging the limelight. After making a valuable contribution of 40 runs with the bat in hand, the 28-year-old leg-spinner went on to bag the third 5-wicket haul of his 7-game-old career. Kuldeep returned figures of 5/40 – his best in Test cricket. His heroics, and the brilliance of Mohammed Siraj, helped India bundle out the hosts for a paltry 150. However, the visitors didn’t opt to enforce the follow-on.
The Chinaman bowler took down the likes of Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nurul Hasan, Taijul Islam and Ebadot Hussain. With this feat, Kuldeep edged past off-spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and former captain Anil Kumble to register the best bowling figures by an India spinner in Bangladesh. Ashwin had previously held the record with the figures of 5 for 87, registered in Fatullah in 2015 whereas Kumble’s best figures in Bangladesh is 4/55, which came at this very venue, back in 2004.
Kuldeep is now the third Indian spinner to pick a five-wicket haul in Bangladesh. Prior to him, the likes of Ashwin and Sunil Joshi have reached this feat. Overall, the best figures by an Indian bowler in Bangladesh belong to Zaheer Khan. He claimed 7/87 back in 2007 in Mirpur.
Kuldeep first came up with a career-best 40 from 114 balls in a 92-run eighth-wicket partnership with veteran Ravichandran Ashwin (58) to push India to 404 in their first inning from an overnight score of 278/6. At stumps on day two, Bangladesh were 133 for eight, trailing India by 271 runs. With two wickets in hand, the hosts still need 72 runs to avoid a follow-on.
Introduced into the attack in the 25th over, the left-arm wrist spinner struck on his second ball as he flummoxed the Bangladesh batters with his wrong ones to end the day with figures of 10-3-33-4, a performance that is certain to boost his confidence.
“I was a bit nervous, I was very lucky to get the first wicket in the first over. Got the momentum back. After a couple of overs, I started feeling well, mixed my pace and variations, tried both the angles – over the wicket and round the wicket,” Kuldeep said after the end of day’s play.
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