Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], November 30 : Kuldeep Yadav continued his brilliant run with the ball in ODIs against South Africa as he helped India secure a 17-run win over the Proteas in the first ODI of the series in Ranchi on Sunday. Kuldeep also became the 11th Indian bowler to take 350 international wickets.
In what proved to be a high-scoring affair, Kuldeep Yadav claimed figures of 4-68 in 10 overs and proved the key differentiator between both sides.
With the four-wicket haul, Kuldeep Yadav now has 31 wickets against South Africa in 14 matches at an average of 16.58, a strike rate of 20.8 and an economy rate of 4.76. No other Indian bowler has taken 30 or more wickets against an opponent at a better average in ODIs.
He also now holds the record for the most four-wicket-plus hauls for India against a single opponent in ODIs, with four such performances against South Africa, equaling Zaheer Khan's four versus Zimbabwe and Mohammed Shami's four against the West Indies.
Shami leads Indian bowlers in ODIs for the most four-wicket-plus hauls, with 16 in 107 innings. He is followed by Ajit Agarkar with 12 in 188 innings, while Kuldeep Yadav, Javagal Srinath, and Anil Kumble have each recorded 10 such hauls, in 112, 227, and 263 innings respectively.
Coming to the India vs South Africa match, Kuldeep dismissed Tony de Zorzi, who made 39 runs. Later, he dismissed Marco Jansen and Matthew Breetze in the space of three balls after the sixth-wicket pair of the Proteas put up a massive partnership of 97 runs in just 68 balls. The 30-year-old dismissed Jansen after the star all-rounder made a dazzling 39-ball 70, while almost immediately, he got the wicket of Matthew Breetzke, who made 72 runs in 80 balls.
After the match, Kuldeep said he and KL Rahul planned to attack despite difficult bowling conditions, focusing on varying his deliveries and maintaining a good length. Reflecting on dismissing Jansen, he noted that the batter was in good form and getting his wicket proved pivotal in changing the course of the game.
"When I came after the first spell, I had a chat with KL. We wanted to attack despite it being tough to bowl as wickets were important. I was mixing up the scrambled seam and seam up. Just tried to go back of length. It was easy to connect off a full length. (One ball rule after 34) It is very challenging, the ball was getting really wet. We kept putting dust and asked the ump for a replacement, that was the plan. We saw a couple of great innings from Bosch and Jansen, wanted to get a wicket. I bowled few balls slower through the air, but you can't just rely on stock balls. You have to mix things up and keep batters guessing. Do that and bowl wicket to wicket. That was my plan. (Jansen's wicket) He was hitting everywhere. Good balls were travelling too. You get lucky and his wicket changed the game."
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