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Cricket World Player of the Week - Kuldeep Yadav

©CWM

Kuldeep Yadav (4/14) rose to the second spot in the IPL 2022 wicket-taking charts with a Player of the Match winning performance against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Kuldeep Yadav was extremely low on confidence over the last couple of years. Ever since the England batters took him down in the 2019 ODI World Cup, it has been a downhill journey for the left-arm wrist spinner.

Be it international cricket or the IPL, he hadn't got a lot of opportunities and when did, he wasn't able to express himself.

The backing of captain Rishabh Pant and head coach Ricky Ponting at Delhi Capitals seems to have done him a world of good. Apparently, he was promised before the beginning of the season that he will play all the matches for the franchise and that seems to have boosted his confidence.

Kuldeep has delivered several match-defining performances this year and this edition has been his best IPL by his own admission.

The combination (Kulcha) of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav might have been broken in international cricket but Yadav has certainly snuck up to Chahal in the race for the Purple cap, with him having picked up 17 wickets from 9 matches as compared to Chahal's 19.

Admittedly, Chahal still has a better economy rate, bowling average and strike rate than his partner in crime.