The Indian Premiere League (IPL) franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has ben known for enjoying humongous fan following all over the country. There is no denying the fact that the franchise fondly remmebers the 2012 and the 2014 editions of the IPL when they became the champions. Under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir, KKR had lifted the trophy both the times. But they have never witnessed a very successful season since 2014.
Dinesh Karthik was nominated the new captain in 2018 after Gambhir left the franchise. Speaking about the 2018 season, KKR chinaman, Kuldeep Yadav in an interview on kkr.in said, “In 2018, we were playing great cricket and I was sure we would win the title. I remember the match we lost against Sunrisers Hyderabad [in Qualifier 2]. I was out of the ground because my spell was over.”
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He further added, “They were on 125 and I thought they would not go beyond 145. But Rashid Khan came into the middle and changed the game. We were just one step away from entering the final. It was a heart-breaking moment when we lost the match.”
When asked about the IPL 2020, which is scheduled to be commencing in the UAE from September 19, Kuldeep Yadav said that he is confident that the franchise had it in them to win the title this year.
The KKR spinner explained, “Even last year I had a strong feeling that we would win. If we can strike a good combination, we can certainly win it this year. After all, its cricket, we will win sooner or later.”
Kuldeep Yadav also happens to achieve the record of bcecoming the only Indian bowler with two hat-tricks in ODI cricket, and which also helped him to ink his name on the elite panel comprising of Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq and Chaminda Vaas.
When asked about his hat-trick at the Eden Gardens [against Australia in 2017] and whether he ever thought if taking one at that point in time, Yadav replied, “I don’t think you can ever take a hat-trick in a planned way. Honestly, I didn’t dream of taking a hat-trick. I got my first wicket of Matthew Wade and then in the next ball I plucked Ashton Agar.”
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He further leaborated, “For the third ball, I asked Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) what to bowl. When you have so many variations, you get confused. He just let me do whatever I felt was right but suggested that I kept it to the stumps. I kept a slip and gully in place. Luckily I bowled a good ball and got the edge. Getting a hat-trick at Eden Garden, that too in the first year of international cricket, is a big thing and this was one of the biggest moments of my life.”
The KKR spinner is currently with the squad in Abu Dhabi and is raring to perform for KKR in IPL 2020.
