Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin wants Kuldeep Yadav to come up with plan B while bowling against in-form Daryl Mitchell in the third ODI of the series. Mitchell was able to hit the ground running against the wrist spinner and took him to the cleaners in the second ODI at Rajkot.
Yadav had an expensive evening, conceding 82 runs in 10 overs he bowled and took one wicket. Mitchell also had the rub of the green on his side as he was dropped on 80 by Prasidh Krishna on the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav.
The Kiwi batter went on to score an unbeaten knock of 131 runs off 117 balls to help his team chase down 285 runs with ease.
Ashwin reckons Kuldeep doesn’t need to change his typical game against 80% of the batters, but he must pull up his socks against Daryl Mitchell.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “Daryl Mitchell knows that he has [to counterattack Kuldeep Yadav. I want to see what trump card Kuldeep has? What changes can he do? Where are plans B and C? Kuldeep is not having to change his game against 80 percent of the batters in the world, but Daryl Mitchell is consistently putting him under pressure.
“So, what is plan B? What can Kuldeep put in the mind of Mitchell? Kuldeep has to take the line wide even if he wants to be full, or he’s to put him on the back foot.”
On the other hand, Ashwin also showered praise on KL Rahul for his brilliant knock. The flamboyant batter scored a fine knock of 112 runs off just 92 balls in the second game, but his efforts went in vain.
He concluded, “We have to praise KL Rahul because wherever or whatever position you are sending him to bat, he’s justifying those roles. His strength is that he thinks before playing a given situation. When you have to rotate and stabilize the team, he does that. The way he finished yesterday.”Obviously, a spot of bother, lost four wickets early, he then did a buildup. There was a slow partnership with Jadeja, but after that, in the end, he was playing aggressively. There is always talk about Rohit and Kohli, but we need to understand that underrated and less sung is KL Rahul.”
The third ODI between India and New Zealand will be played at Indore on Sunday.
