Recharged Kuldeep delivers perfect spell

Four years ago, at Old Trafford in Manchester, Kuldeep Yadav conjured the perfect ball to Babar Azam. It was laced with all the ingredients that wrist spinners dream about generous flight, deadly drift, dip and sharp spin. It was certainly too good for Azam, the ball flighted a few metres outside off stump, drawing him across with the drift before spinning back sharply to breach the gap between bat and pad and hit middle stump.

- Vivek Krishnan

That was Kuldeep in 2019, capable of producing rippers like that but also prone to the rank bad ball in every over. Against the same opponents on Saturday, Kuldeep may not have produced the perfect ball, but what he did deliver was the perfect spell (10-0-35-2). One that enabled the left-arm wrist spinner to change the complexion of this high-voltage game entirely.

Though the surface wasn't particularly conducive to spin, the version of Kuldeep we see today is able to exert control and pry for wickets even when the odds aren't stacked in his favour. When Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, two fine players of spin, were going strong for example, the 28-year-old stuck to a tight line, knowing that the search for wickets couldn't come at the cost of too many runs.

His first seven overs went for only 27 runs, and when Mohammed Siraj removed Azam, Kuldeep found an opening.