Team India’s star batter Virat Kohli was adjudged as the Player of the Match in Asia Cup 2023 game against Pakistan for his heroic ton. However, former Indian batter Gautam Gambhir feels Kuldeep Yadav deserved the POTM award as he dismissed 5 Pakistan batters who are generally good players of spin.
Kuldeep Yadav’s spell was the game-changing moment: Gautam Gambhir
In the post-match show on Star Sports, the former Indian opener was asked to choose his Player of the Match in the IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2023 game. Gambhir stated that Kuldeep Yadav was robbed of the POTM award by Virat Kohli.
“For me, it’s Kuldeep Yadav. Can’t look beyond him. I know Virat got a hundred KL (Rahul) got a hundred. Rohit (Sharma), Shubman Gill got fifties but on a wicket like this where it was seaming swinging, if someone get five wickets in 8 overs, especially against Pakistan batters, who play spin really well, is a game-changing moment,” Gambhir said in the post-match show on Star Sports.
“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,” the former Indian batter further added.
Team India have got 3 bowlers who can take wickets at any stage of the game: Gautam Gambhir
“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,” Gambhir pointed about Team India’s bowling combination for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023.
The Indian team had got off to a flying start courtesy of their opening batters Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. Both the batters smashed half-centuries and laid the foundation for a massive total in the crunch game in the Super Stage of the Asia Cup 2023.
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul then kept the momentum going and never allowed the Pakistan bowlers to get back in the game. The two batters eventually raced off to their respective centuries and put the Indian team in the driver’s seat.
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Virat played an unbeaten knock of 122 off just 94 deliveries while KL Rahul scored 111 runs as the two batters took the Indian team to a massive total of 356-2. While the pacers rattled the top order, it was Kuldeep Yadav who took a 5-wicket haul and looked almost unplayable on the Colombo wicket.