Kuldeep Yadav made a stunning return from his injury during Delhi Capitals' ongoing game against Lucknow Super Giants in the 26th match of the IPL 2024. Kuldeep took three big wickets to restrict Lucknow to 167 and stole the limelight for his delivery to dismiss in-form Nicholas Pooran.
After being forced to bowl first, Delhi enjoyed a brilliant start with the pacer Khaleel Ahmed removing Quinton de Kock and Devdutt Padikkal early in the powerplay. Then Kuldeep dismissed in-form batters Marcus Stoinis, KL Rahul and Pooran in his first two overs and finished his spells with 3/20 figures.
He produced a brilliant googly delivery to dismiss the left-handed batter Pooran in the eighth over which flattened the off stump. Kuldeep then produced another exceptional delivery to remove KL Rahul in the 10th over.
Kuldeep's heroics stumble Lucknow to 94/7 in the first 13 overs. But the hosts made a stunning comeback with Ayush Badoni and debutant Arshad Khan adding unbeaten 73 runs for the eighth wicket with the former smashing crucial 55* off just 35 balls. Kuldeep emerged as the best bowler for Delhi with three wickets while Khaleel picked two for 41.
The 29-year-old left-arm spinner missed Delhi's last three games due to a groin injury and has picked six wickets in three innings in the IPL 2024 so far. Shai Hope and Mukesh Kumar also made their return from their injuries while young Australian batter Jake Fraser-McGurk made his IPL debut for Delhi.
Lucknow Super Giants playing XI: Quinton de Kock (substituted by Deepak Hooda), KL Rahul (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Arshad Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur.
Delhi Capitals playing XI: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed.
