Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav gave credit to Axar Patel for crucial inputs during the high-octane match against Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Sunday, which the Men in Blue won by seven wickets. 

Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers, returning with figures of 3-18 in his quota of four overs. The wrist spinner dismissed Sahibzada Farhaz, Mohammad Nawaz, and Hasan Nawaz in his fine spell and thus bagged the Player of the Match award.

On the other hand, Axar Patel returned with figures of 2-18 in the four overs he bowled. Meanwhile, Patel and Yadav play together for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL and they are both at the top of their games.

Yadav told BCCI.TV, “He’s my captain (Axar Patel). It is very important but there are a lot of small things. Just like today, when we were bowling, you told me to put more revs on the ball as it is gripping and spinning. Those words struck me. I had bowled only one over, and I thought I should try and spin the ball. That would give me more bounce. You had taken two wickets, and I took three, which made it a total of five wickets. It became a collective team effort.”

“But I have to give you special credit. You bowled really well. Perhaps you got an idea, as you had bowled before and knew the conditions.”

Yadav revealed he wanted to bowl a bit slower in the first over against Pakistan and he was able to reap rewards.

“Obviously, like we played in the last match, every new match has a different wicket. But when I played the last match, I felt that the speed I was bowling was becoming easy for the batters. I assessed that and thought I would try to bowl a bit slower in the first over and give the ball the revs. It worked,” he said.

India will next take on Oman at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Friday.