Kuldeep Yadav ran over the Pakistan batting order once again as India continued to assert dominance over their arch-rivals in Dubai on Sunday night.
Both teams were playing their second match of the Asia Cup 2025, and the two sides were coming off big wins. India beat UAE by 9 wickets, while Pakistan dominated Oman and won by 93 runs. Each of the two teams had the chance to reserve their berth in the Super Four.
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After Salman Agha elected to bat first on the night, Pakistan struggled early after losing Saim Ayub for a golden duck to Hardik Pandya in the first over. Later, they were strangled by the spin-web of Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, who picked 3/18 and 2/18, respectively.
Reacting to Pakistan's long struggle against Kuldeep, former captain Shoaib Malik expressed his disappointment in the team's lack of planning and efforts to tackle the Indian spinner.
Pakistan have failed to crack the Kuldeep Yadav code
While speaking to Tapmad at the end of the match, Umar Gul and Malik analysed Pakistan's poor batting against spinners, citing the 10 overs of dot balls played by Sahibzada Farhan and co.
They called out the lack of intent to rotate the strike in the middle overs before Malik ripped apart the management and players for their consistent struggle against the Indian wrist spinner.
"He has played against you in 8 matches, all in the Asia Cups and the World Cups, and you are still unable to find any solutions against him? Nobody is even bothered about it. What is this planning?" Malik asked
"Where are we heading if a bowler comes up against us and gets so many wickets, and nobody is trying to find solutions? It is the responsibility of the players and the management to do it," Malik added.
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What is Kuldeep Yadav's record vs Pakistan?
In his 8 matches against Pakistan since the Asia Cup 2018 across formats, Kuldeep has bowled in 7 innings and taken 18 wickets against the arch-rivals, including a five-wicket haul to his name.
| Matches | Innings | Wickets | Avg/SR | Economy | Best figures | 5w |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 7 | 18 | 12.66/19.3 | 3.93 | 5/25 | 1 |