"When we were bowling, I missed my partner Kuldeep."
Ouch! When your captain says this unprompted, in reply to an unrelated question, and the interviewer says "absolutely, on this surface", it has got to sting. Especially when you did bowl three out of your four overs and were on the field through the innings.
On a pitch that Delhi Capitals (DC) chose to bat on, expecting spin to play a big role as the game progressed, Kuldeep Yadav's figures stuck out like a sore thumb. The opposition spinners took 3 for 41 in their seven overs, Axar Patel himself took 1 for 25 in his four, but Kuldeep went for 34 in his three overs without taking a wicket.
Kuldeep was not the only deciding factor of the match. DC's call at the toss was questionable; their batting struggled and forced them to play an extra specialist batter as the impact player; T Natarajan also had an off night. But it would seem the frustration over Kuldeep's performance has been building up.
One look at Kuldeep's season numbers and you know there could be reason for discontent. A total of 21 spinners have bowled more than seven overs this IPL. None of them has gone at more than Kuldeep's 10.36 an over. Nobody's wickets have cost more than Kuldeep's - his seven wickets have come at an average of 44.42.
He still has time to correct it, but Kuldeep has arguably never had this bad an IPL. Even in his worst previous season in 2019, when he took just four wickets in nine matches, he still went at just 8.66 an over. He came in under immense scrutiny then, not least from his own side, but this year he has largely flown under the radar and played every game for DC, who are now seventh on the table with just eight points from ten matches.
It was apparent from the DC coach Hemang Badani's press conference that they wanted more from their wristspinner, but he also offered support and backing. It is not as though they have another match-winning spinner in their squad.
"We would ideally want [him] to be better than this," Badani said. "But we will rally around him. He has been somebody who has been part of this side for many, many years. He has done well for many, many years. I think he can turn this around.
"I think [it's] more the case of someone striking form. He hasn't struck peak form yet. He hasn't bowled at the speeds he would normally bowl. It is a question of time. We have the faith in him."
Back to the question of pace then. Kuldeep's slowness in the air has bubbled under the surface throughout his career as it lets batters recover even if they are beaten in the air. For what it's worth, Kuldeep's pace is not significantly different to what it was in the last IPL when he took 15 wickets and went at 7.07 an over. He is still the likeliest to bowl at around 86-87kmph.
At that speed, though, you expect more turn from your spinner. However, that trade-off hasn't quite played out. Even in this match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Axar found more turn than Kuldeep despite being a fingerspinner and despite bowling two overs with the new ball inside the powerplay.
This lack of turn is what should worry the DC leadership now that they have managed to put the spotlight squarely on Kuldeep.
