Stats: Kuldeep’s Career-Best 4/20 Earn KKR Crucial Win Against RR

Kuldeep’s 4/20 was not only his best performance this season but also in the history of IPL.

Kuldeep Yadav cleaned up the top order with a wicket in each of his four overs to bowl out Rajasthan for 142 in 19 overs.

(Photo: BCCI)

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav grabbed 4/20 and earned Kolkata Knight Riders an important six-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.

Yadav, a left-arm spinner, mopped up the top order with a wicket in each of his four overs to bowl out Rajasthan for 142 in 19 overs.

Opener Chris Lynn then anchored Kolkata to 144-4 with 45 off 42 balls, putting match-winning 48-run partnership with captain Dinesh Karthik, who made an unbeaten 31.

Kolkata occupied the third spot with 14 points and will meet Sunrisers Hyderabad in its last league match. Meanwhile, Rajasthan is at number 4 with 12 points and will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last game.

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Kuldeep Yadav, who had a forgettable outing in his last game at the Eden Gardens, leaking 43 runs in three overs against Mumbai Indians had a complete change of fortune on Tuesday against the Royals.

His bowling figure of 4/20 was not only his best performance of this season but also among all seasons of IPL.

Prior to this, Kuldeep’s best performance in the IPL came against Delhi Daredevils also in Kolkata earlier this season. The Chinaman spinner had finished with 3/32 in 3.2.

Shouldering extra responsibility in the absence of an injured Piyush Chawla due to a side strain, Yadav's magic arm completely exposed Rajasthan’s frailty in tackling spin, as his four included the prized wicket of in-form Jos Buttler, who was looking for his sixth consecutive fifty-plus score this season.

Coming in the eighth over, Kuldeep ran through his four overs and took a wicket in each of them to help KKR bounce back from a poor start.

Kuldeep started off by cleaning up RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane who continued his woeful form to get out for 11 and in the next over he denied Buttler a record sixth straight fifty.

Buttler,too, attempted a reverse sweep like Rahane but holed out at third man by Javon Searles.

Kuldeep Yadav’s 4/20 is now the second best bowling performance in this season of the IPL. Kings XI Punjab’s Ankit Rajpoot leads the chart with 5/14 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 26 April in Hyderabad.

(With inputs from AP)

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