IND vs SL 2023: Kuldeep Yadav got us back in the game, it was fantastic – Rohit Sharma

Sri Lanka was cruising at 102-1 in the second ODI after winning the toss and it looked like all set to post more than 300 runs on the board against India in the second ODI at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Thursday. But the visitors soon found themselves tottering at 126-6, with three of the five wickets being taken by wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who had replaced injured Yuzvendra Chahal in the final XI.

Yadav struck on the last ball of his first over as he plumbed Kusal Mendis in front of the wicket with a well-disguised wrong one. The wrist-spinner then had the in-form Dasun Shanaka bowled and dismissed Charith Asalanka caught-and-bowled.

Yadav finished with impressive figures of 3-51 in his quota of 10 overs and played a huge role in skittling out the opposition at 215 runs. The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was full of praise for the left-arm spinner.

Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “For Kuldeep Yadav to come back and play the game he played today, it was fantastic. Literally got us back in the game. They were batting run-a-ball and Kuldeep, as we’ve seen quite often, comes and gets the wicket. He’s quite confident as a bowler right now and it definitely augurs well with the team.

On the other hand, KL Rahul was able to bail the team out of jail after they found themselves in a spot of bother at 86-4. Rahul went on to score a gritty knock of 64 runs off 103 runs to help his team win by four wickets and take an impregnable lead of 2-0 in the three-match series.

Rohit added, “It was a close game but games like these teach you a lesson. We had to build an innings under pressure. KL has been batting at five for a long period of time now and it gives us depth. Gives you confidence as well at the top of the order for us to go and bat freely. It was a good display of batsmanship. It’ll be nice to have a left-hander, but I don’t believe too much in it. Ideally, we would like to have a left-hander, but we know the quality of the right-handers who are out there in the middle. They can tackle situations when put under pressure.”

The Indian skipper hinted they might make a few changes for the dead rubber contest in the third ODI as they want to keep the players fresh.

He said, “We haven’t thought about it yet, once we get there we’ll have a look at the pitch and have a look at some of our guys. There are 3 ODIs coming up against New Zealand as well, so we need to keep the guys fresh. We’ve got a long season now and we need to keep everything in mind. If needed, we’ll make some changes.”

The third ODI between India and Sri Lanka will be played at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.