Ajinkya Rahane talks about x-factor' Kuldeep Yadav after series win in Dharamsala

Dharamsala: India’s stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane heaped praises on Kuldeep Yadav, saying that the debutant spinner was the “x-factor” for India in the Dharamsala Test against Australia.

India dominated the final Test to clinch the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2-1, after notching-up an eight-wicket victory over Australia in Dharamsala, on Tuesday.

Kuldeep Yadav, who played his first Test match in this game, shone with the ball in the first innings, picking up four Aussie wickets in the post-lunch session of the first day of the Test. His stellar performance earned him a lot of praise from Rahane, who was filling-in as the captain in this match, in place of the injured Virat Kohli.

“The way Kuldeep bowled in that session, hats off to him. We knew Kuldeep was bowling really well in the nets,” said Rahane during the post-match presentation ceremony. “He had an x-factor. We all had the confidence in him.”

Rahane revealed that the team’s decision to stem Australia’s run-flow in the second session of the first day’s play, helped them gain a strong foothold after a bad start in the Dharamsala Test.

“We decided at lunch on day one that if we stop their runs and if we take one wicket, we could be back because only Smith and Warner were scoring runs,” he said.

Rahane also praised the effort put in by the India pace bowlers, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in the Dharamsala Test. He also went on to say that the presence of as many as four top quality pace bowlers is a good sign for Indian cricket.

“Fantastic to see Umesh and Bhuvnesh and Ishant and Shami, the kind of performances they put in on Indian pitches,” he said.