Kuldeep Yadav, who made his Test debut against Australia in the fourth Test at Dharamsala on Saturday, became top trend across the country with his spectacular bowling on Day One. Kuldeep picked up 4 of the first 7 wickets to fall with his Chinaman bowling. India’s 288th Test cricketer, Kuldeep became the first Chinaman bowler to represent India in their 85-year-old Test history. He dismissed Australian vice captain David Warner to pick up his maiden wicket. Soon, he also got rid of Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins. His magical show left all and sundry impressed, including a certain Sachin Tendulkar.
The Indian batting legend took to his Twitter handle to praise the young bowling sensation. He wrote: “I am impressed with @imkuldeep18’s variations and the way he has started. Keep going strong, this can be your match to shine.” Tendulkar’s tweet left many cricket fans surprised, for usually he is never so quick to praise a cricketer.
Kuldeep indeed was sensational. The two deliveries that stood out from his spell were the ones on which he cleaned up Handscomb and Maxwell. While Handscomb paid price of picking a wrong delivery to drive, Maxwell simply could not read the other’un.
Not just Tendulkar, there were other cricketers as well who were impressed by Kuldeep’s heroics on Day One. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Murali Kartik and Michael Clarke also had words of praise reserved for the bowler:
By the 79th over of Australian innings, the time of filing this report, Kuldeep had picked up 4 wickets for 53 runs from his 20 overs. He was just a wicket away from taking a five-for in his maiden innings on Test debut.