Video | Kuldeep Yadav injures himself while appealing for a wicket

Kolkata Knight Riders began the 2018 IPL season like they always do, as underdogs. Having qualified for the play-offs, their next target was reaching the finals for which they needed to beat a resurgent Rajasthan Royals. They had a horrid start with the bat but recovered well to post a total of 169 runs which they defended successfully due to the world-class bowling.

Sunrisers Hyderabad finished at the top of the table after 14 matches and had to beat MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings which they failed to do despite reducing CSK to 80/6 as a brilliant batting performance by Faf du Plessis ensured the boys in yellow sealed a final berth.

As the two teams faced off today in the second eliminator at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Dinesh Karthik put the visitors to bat first on a tricky wicket. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha got off to a shaky start before hitting some decent shots to clear the boundary. Dhawan looked in good touch until Karthik introduced wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav into the attack.

The master spinner didn’t waste time as he immediately repaid the faith shown by his skipper as he picked up Dhawan's wicket off the very first delivery of this spell. Yadav bowled a stunning delivery which struck Dhawan on the pads and for which, Yadav and his teammates immediately appealed to the umpire for a wicket which was successfully given. However, the young spinner fell down on the pitch and appeared to injure his back during the process.

But Yadav recovered quickly to continue his spell as he claimed the second wicket of SRH skipper and orange cap holder Kane Williamson off the fifth delivery of his first over itself.