Follow UsHe might not have played a single Test away in England, but the Kuldeep Yadav era at home in Test cricket is here, and it’s here to stay.
After seeing seamers dominate proceedings in the first Test in Ahmedabad, where he bowled only 14.2 overs in total (and still managed 4 wickets), Kuldeep took matters into his own hands in the first innings of the second Test in Delhi as he notched up his fifth 5-wicket haul in Test cricket. The 30-year-old ran through the middle and lower middle-order of the visitors as he finished with figures of 5/82 to help India enforce the follow-on.
With that, Kuldeep equaled a world record as he now has the joint-most five-wicket hauls for any left-arm wrist-spinner in Test history. The 30-year-old has 5 five-wicket hauls, which is the same as what England’s Johnny Wardle managed back in the 1950s.
Kuldeep started day three with only one wicket under his belt, that of Alick Athanaze, but he picked four of the six remaining Windies wickets to equal the world record.
The 30-year-old has now taken 65 wickets in Tests at an average of just 21.09. What’s more remarkable is his strike rate of 36, which is the second-best in history among bowlers who have taken 65 wickets or more in Test cricket.
34.1 - George Lohmann
36.0 - Kuldeep Yadav
38.0 - Marco Jansen
38.7 - Shane Bond