He has had to bide his time on the tour (like he did in England) but Kuldeep Yadav made his opportunity count by finishing with five wickets in his first go at bowling in Australia on day four of the fourth Test between in Sydney on Sunday.
Incessant rain and bad light had delayed the start of play at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and play couldn’t commence at the scheduled 10 am local time start due to bad light and wet conditions from overnight heavy rain. The light improved in some time and the two umpires stipulated 11 am local time as the start of play, but rain arrived to prevent that from happening.
The inclement weather didn’t relent until lunchtime and the morning session was completely washed out.
But when play resumed, India were back in business with Mohammed Shami dismissing Pat Cummins early.
Kuldeep needed two more wickets to get to his fifer. He first got Nathan Lyon LBW and then almost had his fifth soon after but Hanuma Vihari dropped a skier from Josh Hazlewood’s bat. After a frustrating last-wicket partnership, the moment did arrive when he bowled a wrong ‘un to Hazlewood and got him trapped LBW.
India have an unassailable 2-1 series’ lead after winning the first Test in Adelaide by 31 runs and the third Test in Melbourne by 137 runs. Australia had won the second Test in Perth by 146 runs.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the effort by the 24-year-old wrist-spinner:
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