‘We still need to improve’ – Kuldeep Yadav’s honest assessment of Delhi Capitals’ performances at IPL 2023

Kuldeep Yadav. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL)

Delhi Capitals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in their latest Indian Premier League 2023 match on April 24 to record two back-to-back wins. But the David Warner-led side remains at the bottom of the points table after seven games with a few issues that still need to be sorted out ahead of the remainder of the season.

The team’s star spinner Kuldeep Yadav talked about the need for improvement, especially from their batting unit. Talking in a post-match conference on Monday, April 24, Kuldeep praised the team’s bowling performance against Sunrisers Hyderabad and said that the bowling unit has been excellent throughout the tournament.

“We believed it as a team and as a bowling unit, we had done really throughout the tournament. We still need to improve in our batting. We didn’t get a wicket in the pack but we bowled really well throughout the 20 overs. We kept the pressure on them by not giving the easy boundaries,” Kuldeep Yadav said in the post-match press conference.

Delhi managed to score just 144/9 against Hyderabad with Axar Patel and Manish Pandey scoring 34 runs each. Apart from Warner’s 306 overall runs, no Delhi batter has managed to reach the 200-run mark in IPL 2023 so far. Axar and Manish have contributed few runs lately but both batters along with Warner have struggled to play aggressive cricket this season.

Mukesh bowled well in the last game as well: Kuldeep Yadav

While defending only 144 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Anrich Nortje gave Delhi a flying start with Harry Brook’s wicket. Nortje picked another wicket while Axar emerged as the best bowler for his two for 21 spell. Kuldeep also shone with Abhishek Sharma’s wicket while conceding just 22 runs to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 137/6.

Mukesh Kumar conceded runs initially, but bowlers the final over brilliantly to defend his team’s total. The right-arm pacer has taken just five wickets from six innings at a poor economy rate of 9.66 but Kuleep believes that Mukesh is improving day by day and added that bowling in the death overs costs expensive spells.

“I thought we really bowled well in the powerplay, gave away on 35-36 runs. Thereafter myself and Axar, we just kept us in the game in the middle phase and in the last four overs, Nortje and Mukesh bowled exceptionally well. Mukesh bowled well in the last game as well. He is playing his first IPL, he is improving day by day. Bowling in the death overs are never easy,” Kuldeep Yadav added.