Kolkata Knight Riders veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has put his weight behind under-fire Kuldeep Yadav to hit back form. Kuldeep has been under scrutiny for his below-par performances in the last two years. Kuldeep has scalped 18 wickets in 19 ODIs in the last two years at a mundane average of 57.66 while playing for India. The left-arm wrist spinner has been part of only three T20Is in the last two years for the national team in which he has scalped four wickets.
On the other hand, Kuldeep didn’t have a great IPL 2020 for Kolkata Knight Riders as he scalped a solitary wicket in five matches and thus spent most of his time on the bench as mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy was able to grab his opportunity with both hands.
However, Harbhajan Singh is not much perturbed by Kuldeep’s lean patch and stated that there is nothing wrong with the wrist spinner.
“There are times when you bowl good spells and yet you don’t get wickets. It happened with all the renowned bowlers. I don’t see anything wrong with Kuldeep. He has been a match-winner and I know he is going to come good for KKR and also Team India soon,” said Harbhajan told kkr.in.
“When he entered the Indian team, no one taught him how to bowl. Whatever he did was his own merit reflecting in his bowling. The merit is still there and he has only gotten better with time,” added Harbhajan.
Kuldeep is yet to get his chance in the ongoing season of the league. Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh is still wicketless in IPL 2021 after playing two matches. The Turbanator didn’t have a rub of the green on his side in the first game as Pat Cummins had fluffed David Warner’s catch but he bowled only one over. Bhajji conceded 17 runs off his two overs in the second game of the franchise against his former team, Mumbai Indians on Tuesday.
KKR will next face Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on 18th April.