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The Indian cricket team all but secured their semi-finals ticket with a convincing 100-run victory over defending champions England in the Cricket World Cup 2023 match on Sunday. While the pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami did the bulk of the damage with the new ball, Kuldeep Yadav also joined the party with two important wickets. Playing at his home ground, Kuldeep exploited the conditions effectively. When asked about the importance of India’s victory over England in the high-profile clash, the left-arm spinner admitted that “it wasn’t that tough” for the Indian team.
Kuldeep attended the press conference after the match and was asked by a reporter of beating England signals a change of guard in the format. His response was as confident as his performance on the day.
Reporter: Did the match – beating the defending champions so convincingly, does that feel like a changing of the guard moment where it changes around for you?
Kuldeep Yadav: I mean to be very honest it was good to win – beating defending champion. They havn’t had a great tournament so far. So it wasn’t that tough – they restricted us for like 230.
As a bowler, I thought probably we have to pick early wicket to be in the game and certainly Jasprit and Shami did and after they were four down for 40 runs, we just trying to bowl in perfect areas and make them make mistake.
That was our plan as a bowler, as a spinner, me and Jadeja. And definitely when you lose early wicket, you’re always behind the game.
Reporter:Does this England team feel different to the 2019 team?
Kuldeep Yadav:I mean, I think conditions matter a lot. They have the best team. They played some really good cricket over the years and they have the same players. So, nothing changes.
It was the first time in this tournament that India batted first and Kuldeep was delighted to test himself under the lights.
“I mean, it is good if we get the batting first. But if we got a good score, it would have been more fun. The score was good at 230 and the wicket was difficult. The way Rohit [Sharma] batted and gave a good respectable total of 230. I was hoping that if we get two wickets in powerplay, we will be in the game. The way Shami and Jasprit bowled, the first spell, they got two wickets in powerplay and we were back in the game. My job was simple, to bowl at a good length. It was spinning. I used the crease well. The result was good,” said Kuldeep.
“I know my hometown well and the conditions very well. The wicket spins and when you bowl on seam, it spins better. I was trying to bowl the ball on a good length and use the crease well. There is always public support. Wherever you play in India, even before this we played in Dharamshala, there was full support. And after that, here, it felt good to play on my home ground,” he added.
When asked if the Ekana stadium pitch was good for ODI cricket, Kuldeep said it 100% was.
“100 percent it was a good wicket. It was challenging. 50 over is all about skill and if you are set then batting is easy and at night the ball was seaming well, and if you have quality seamers then you are always in the game and 100 percent this was the perfect wicket for one day,” said the spinner.
The left-arm spinner also sympathised with the England team, saying they haven’t quite had things going their way despite possessing a formidable team.
“I mean, they have a very good team, they have been playing good cricket. They have changed cricket a lot and every time everything does not go in your favour. Sometimes you face bad times, I am sure they are thinking the same,” he said.
“The English fan’s expectations for the performance were not met. Whichever team is playing, they are playing their best cricket and they want to defeat big teams. The biggest motivation for every team is that England is a big team. They were the last World Cup champions. So, the motivation is always high.”
“Even for us, they are a big team. We were thinking the same way when we were preparing for this game. We thought that they would be a good competition in the game. Definitely, if you win against a big team, you are always happy,” he concluded.
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