ICC World Cup 2019 | Kuldeep Yadav’s IPL form not a worry at World Cup, asserts Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis has stated that Kuldeep Yadav’s poor form in the Indian Premier League should not be a concern for India with respect to the upcoming World Cup starting on May 30. The England-bound leg-spinner has only picked up four wickets in nine matches and has even been dropped from the team.
India have been tagged one among the favourites to lift the World Cup in England and the spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have played a major role in that. Kuldeep scalped 45 wickets in 19 matches in 2018 and his economy for the entire year stood at 4.64. Even in T20Is, he had an economy of under six and 21 wickets in nine matches during the same period. In the series against New Zealand and Australia too, he took eight and ten wickets respectively. However, his performance for Kolkata in the Indian Premier League has been a stark contrast as he has leaked runs at an economy of 8.66 and has only managed to get four wickets in nine games. Nevertheless, KKR coach Jacques Kallis believes that his performance in the cash-rich league will not have a bearing on the quadrennial event.
“He didn’t have a good season so far and the reason behind it is that the wickets in Eden Gardens didn’t spin at all this year. But as far as the World Cup is concerned, I don’t think there is any need to panic. It will be a completely different format and I am sure he will bounce back strongly,” he said, reported TOI.
Since the encounter against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 19, where Kuldeep leaked 59 runs, he has been dropped and has not featured in KKR’s last three games.
“He has not been in the team for the past couple of games but he has not dropped his head and is working hard in the nets with the same intensity,” expressed the former South Africa captain.
KKR started with four wins in the first five games but could only manage one win in the next seven. They find themselves in a precarious position and even a win in the next two encounters against Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians may not guarantee them a playoff berth. However, they won their previous game against the same opponents MI and Kallis is still hopeful of a playoff berth.
“Definitely, we can still go all the way. We need to win our next two games and hopefully we can qualify for the playoffs. We have played some good cricket against Mumbai Indian. We are fresh and ready to go,” he signed off.