Former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan showered praise on Daryl Mitchell for taking the attack against Kuldeep Yadav in the second ODI against India at Rajkot on Wednesday. Mitchell was able to hit the ground running against the wrist spinner and took him to the cleaners.

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.

Zaheer Khan said on Cricbuzz, “What Mitchell did smartly and proactively was he didn’t wait for Kuldeep to settle in. He made the announcement loud and clear to the Indian spinners that they were not going to take it sitting back and giving the spinners the luxury of getting into their rhythm.”

“Whether it was decided pre-run chase to attack Kuldeep, only the New Zealand camp will be able to answer. But they were behind in the game till then. The Indian seamers started brilliantly and kept things tight till then. That was the reason Shubman prolonged the seamers as well.”

Khan is confident that Arshdeep Singh will be there in India’s final XI in the ODI World Cup. India backed the pace trio of Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna in the first two games against the Kiwis.

“Arshdeep, when you look at the World Cup, will definitely be there. So this is just a trial and error, which is why Arshdeep is out, in my opinion. Hopefully, it’s not a long-term thing that the Indian team is thinking. He has been proving himself consistently, so in the long term, he’ll definitely be around,” said Zaheer (via the aforementioned source).

The third ODI between India and New Zealand will be played at Indore on Sunday.