Former Indian World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir picked Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav as his choice of player of the match against Pakistan over the Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli, who was originally awarded the player of the match for his unbeaten 122-run knock against Pakistan on Monday.
Virat Kohli was brilliant against the Men in Green as the Indian veteran built his innings very well alongside comeback man KL Rahul in the crucial Super 4 match of the 2023 Asia Cup. The former Indian skipper became the fastest Indian batter to score 13000 runs in International Cricket surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and has scored his 47th century in ODI Cricket.
Speaking to the broadcaster after the completion of the game, Gautam Gambhir claimed that Kuldeep Yadav should be given the Player of the Match award because all Indian batters performed exceptionally well on a wicket that offered swing and seam movements and feels that Kuldeep Yadav’s spell against the high-quality Pakistan batters was the match-winning spell for India, which shows the quality of his bowling.
“For me, it’s Kuldeep Yadav. Can’t look beyond him. I know Virat got a hundred KL (Rahul) got a hundred. Rohit (Sharma), and Shubman Gill got the fifties but on a wicket like this where it was seaming swinging, if someone gets five wickets in 8 overs, especially against Pakistan batters, who play spin really well, is a game-changing moment”.
“I can understand if it was Australia, South Africa, or New Zealand because they don’t play spin that well. This just shows the quality of the bowler. He beat batters in the air and he beat batters off the wicket as well. Going into the World Cup, that is great for Indian cricket because now you have two attacking pacers upfront and Kuldeep… Three bowlers who can take wickets at any stage of the game,” Gautam Gambhir said.
Kuldeep Yadav completed the game with a five-wicket haul as Pakistan struggled against the left-arm wrist spinner. Yadav was key to India’s dominance as he shut out the entire middle order and opener Fakhar Zaman with brilliance with the ball past the powerplay and can be crucial for the team’s success in the continental event going forward.
The left-arm spinner has shown the ability to pick up wickets consistently in the middle overs, which has provided a different dimension to India’s bowling, as the World Cup games could be played on slow wickets in India, which may assist the spinner in the middle overs.