"I could not understand why Kuldeep was out of the team in the first place" - Shoaib Akhtar praises the spinner's 5-wicket haul

Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar failed to understand why Team India excluded Kuldeep Yadav from their plans for a brief time. The left-arm wrist spinner has made a resounding comeback into the white-ball setup and has cemented his status as the first-choice frontline spinner with a five-wicket haul against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2023 on Monday.

Kuldeep was out of the team for a while following a couple of poor seasons with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). A serious knee injury did not help his case as he was seemingly not in Team India's scheme of things. A landmark 2022 IPL season with his new franchise Delhi Capitals (DC) revived him and he has now toppled Yuzvendra Chahal to fregularly find himself in the playing XI in recent times.

Failing to understand why Kuldeep was not in Team India's plans before, Akhtar said on his YouTube channel:

"I could not understand why Kuldeep was out of the team in the first place.. He showed that he was the best spinner in the town."

"Now India and Pakistan should meet in the final, where it will be a battle of attitude and nerves," Akhtar added.

Kuldeep has taken 27 wickets in 13 matches this year at an economy rate of 4.58. His figures of 5-25, marked the second five-wicket haul of the spinner's ODI career.

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"What I liked the most was the attitude the Indian bowlers came out with" - Shoaib Akhtar

The Asia Cup 2023 Super Four encounter against Pakistan marked the first time that the Indian bowlers got a chance to get on the field against their arch-rivals in the tournament. They did not get the chance to bowl in the group stage due to persistent rain, and the bowlers used all of their pent-up energy to dismantle the Pakistani batting unit.

Jasprit Bumrah was prolific in his first ODI since July 2022, and along with Mohammed Siraj, bowled a scathing opening spell where they got the ball to move both ways. Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur played the perfect second fiddle and chipped in with key breakthroughs before Kuldeep Yadav ran through the remainder of the unit.

Praising India's bowling display, Shoaib Akhtar said:

"It was a well-deserved win for India, they played really well. What I liked the most was the attitude the Indian bowlers came out with. They wanted to take wickets and wrap the contest up quickly. That was a very encouraging sign for me as a fast bowler."

The Indian bowlers bundled out Pakistan for just 128 runs in 32 overs. It was essential that the bowlers got the job done quickly, considering they have a crucial Super Four stage encounter against Sri Lanka scheduled without a rest day in between.