Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav on Sunday admitted he felt awkward accepting the Player of the Match award ahead of Virat Kohli, even though his four-wicket haul had pulled India back into the first ODI against the West Indies here, as they eventually won by eight wickets.
“I actually loved the batting from Shubman and Virat bhai, it was a special inning from them. “I think personally I like my rhythm, to be very honest. I was very calm in my rhythm and just trying to bowl whatever I felt like bowling, just varying the pace, variations were superb, just reading the batters, where they’re going to hit me, and yeah, I bowled very, very, very good in rhythm. Kuldeep has been in and out of the Indian side, and didn’t play the ODI series in England in July. He added that a spell like this goes a long way in restoring belief in his abilities. “It always feels nice when you enjoy your bowling and that’s where you achieve your best.
Kohli then smashed an unbeaten 139 off 88 balls, including crossing the 15,000 runs mark and skipper Shubman Gill made 110, with Kuldeep said their batting was what he enjoyed most about the day.
It feels awkward to receive the Man of the Match award seeing the way Virat batted, it was an outstanding inning,” Kuldeep said at the post-match presentation ceremony. Talking about his own spell, the left-arm wrist-spinner said everything had clicked in his favour.
