Ouch. When a captain tells a spinner “this” without prompting—then the interviewer adds, “absolutely, on this surface”—it lands like a direct verdict. The sting is sharper when you’ve already delivered three of your four overs and spent the rest of the match in the field.
With Delhi Capitals opting to bat, they appeared to be leaning into a pitch that would reward spin as the game unfolded. Yet Kuldeep Yadav’s figures stood out in the way you least want on a day like that: the visiting spinners combined for 3 wickets for 41 runs in their seven-over spell, Axar Patel struck with 1 for 25 from his four overs, but Kuldeep was wicketless and conceded 34 runs in his three overs.
Still, it’s not as if these numbers automatically decide everything. Delhi’s toss decision has looked debatable, their batting struggled and forced them to use an extra specialist as the Impact Player, and T Natarajan also had a difficult outing. Even so, it feels the dissatisfaction around Kuldeep’s season has been building for some time.
Look at Kuldeep’s overall IPL season readouts and the frustration becomes easier to understand. In this tournament, 21 spinners have already bowled more than seven overs, and none of them has gone at a rate higher than Kuldeep’s 10.36 runs per over. His wicket-taking has also come with a steep price: his seven wickets have arrived at an average of 44.42, which is the worst among the group listed.
There’s still time to repair the damage, but arguably Kuldeep has never endured an IPL stretch this poor. Even during his toughest campaign in 2019—when he managed only four wickets across nine matches—his economy was a far more respectable 8.66 per over. Back then, he faced heavy scrutiny, including from within his own setup. This year, however, he has largely flown under the radar—yet he has played every game for Delhi Capitals, who sit seventh in the standings with just eight points from 10 matches.
Coach backs Kuldeep as pressure grows
It was clear in Delhi’s head coach Hemang Badani’s press interaction that they want more from their wrist-spinner. At the same time, the message was not one of abandonment. There’s no other obvious match-winning spinner to simply replace him with, which makes his turnaround even more important.
“We would ideally want 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 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.”
So, the pace question returns. Kuldeep’s slower ball through the air has been a theme across his career—something that has quietly bothered batters because it gives them extra time to settle, even when they are beaten in the air. For context, his pace in this season isn’t wildly different from the last IPL, when he took 15 wickets and conceded at 7.07 runs per over. The expectation is still that he should be operating around the 86–87 kmph mark.
At that speed, though, you would normally anticipate more turn. Instead, the trade-off hasn’t fully come through. In this match versus Chennai Super Kings, Axar generated more spin than Kuldeep even though Axar is a finger-spinner, and even after bowling two overs with the new ball during the powerplay.
That is the element Delhi will have to address now—because once the spotlight has swung fully onto Kuldeep, the lack of turn becomes the issue that leadership can’t afford to ignore.
