‘Favorite tha toh khilaaya kyu nahi?’: Kuldeep Yadav's coach takes brutal dig at Dinesh Karthik; here's why
After his rich exploits in IPL 2022, Kuldeep Yadav made a strong return to the national side and has been a consistent performer whenever given an opportunity.
Ever since switching allegiance from Kolkata Knight Riders to Delhi Capitals, Kuldeep Yadav's stagnant career witnessed an upward curve. The Chinaman finished as the leading wicket-taker from the Delhi camp, scalping a total of 21 wickets from 14 matches. Soon after his rich exploits in the lucrative T20 league, Kuldeep made a strong return to the national side and has been a consistent performer whenever given an opportunity.
However, this wasn't the case up until 2021. Despite being among India's lethal spinner, Kuldeep had to fight for a place in the playing XI. For the Knight Riders, Kuldeep made just 13 appearances in three seasons and didn't get a single opportunity in IPL 2021.
Sharing his views on the same, Kuldeep's coach Kapil Pandey was extremely critical of the Knight Riders management and even slammed then skipper Dinesh Karthik for overlooking his ward.
Launching a scathing attack on the wicketkeeper-batter, the coach during an interaction with Sportskeeda said: "When he was with Kolkata and Karthik was the captain, he used to give him just 1-2 overs each game. Now he says that Kuldeep is his favorite Indian bowler.
"Favorite tha toh usko khelaya kyu nahi? Usko khilaate? (If he was your favorite bowler then why didn't you play him?) But that’s okay, that’s past now and I believe the future will be great for Kuldeep."
While Kuldeep was one of India's mainstay until 2019, he made just seven appearances each in all formats combined in 2020 and the following year.
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While things were slightly difficult in 2020, with Covid forcing sports to take a backseat, sports returned in full throttle in 2021. The previous year, however, brought some respite to Kuldeep as he made a total of 11 appearances in all three formats, where he scalped a total of 23 wickets.
Kuldeep was dropped for the second Test against Bangladesh despite emerging as the Player of the Match in the opening encounter, which drew flaks from most corner. He is now part of India ODI squad for the home series against Sri Lanka and will most probably be part of the playing XI considering the wickets in the sub-continent.
