Dubai [UAE], February 23 : 'Chinaman' spinner Kuldeep Yadav joined an exclusive club after becoming just the fifth spinner for India to take 300-plus international wickets.
On Sunday, Kuldeep rewrote the history books during his exploits in the Champions Trophy blockbuster clash between India and Pakistan in Dubai. Kuldeep spun Pakistan batters inside out to turn the tides in favour of India. He returned with splendid figures of 3/40 in his nine-over spell.
After enjoying a fruitful spell, he joined India's decorated ball tweakers - Anil Kumble (953), Ravichandran Ashwin (765), Harbhajan Singh (707) and Ravindra Jadeja (604), who boast 300-plus international wickets. Overall, he is the 13th Indian player to go past the 300-wicket mark in the international circuit.
Kuldeep laid his spin traps to leave Pakistan's batters bamboozled. He flexed his mastery in spin by removing Pakistan's vice-captain, Salman Agha (19). He lured out a thick outside edge from Agha, which Ravindra Jadeja comfortably took.
On the next delivery, he left Shaheen Afridi to bite the dust with a googly. Shaheen failed to pick up Kuldeep's variation and got pinned in front of the stumps for a golden duck.
Kuldeep invited Naseem Shah to open his arms and target the boundary rope for his final wicket of the day. Naseem chipped the delivery towards long-on and Virat Kohli charged down to take a low catch.
With another productive haul against the Men in Green, Kuldeep now boasts 15 wickets against Pakistan in the ODIs, averaging 14.00 at a strike rate of 21.6.
Notably, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya completed 200 international wickets. When Mohammed Shami went off the field, Hardik spearheaded India's pace attack and delivered a clinical six-over spell.
In eight overs, he returned with figures of 2/31 at an economy rate of 3.87. In his strong spell, he scythed the crucial wicket of Pakistan's premier batter, Babar Azam, and uprooted a well-settled Saud Shakeel, who made a half-century.