On Sunday, March 9, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, India faced New Zealand in the 2025 Champions Trophy final. Kuldeep Yadav failed to back up a throw from Ravindra Jadeja that may have resulted in a wicket.
In the 41st over of the New Zealand innings, the incident occurred off the second delivery. At backward point, Michael Bracewell punched a delivery to Jadeja’s left off the back foot. Before launching a forceful throw at the non-striker’s end, the 36-year-old quickly ran to the ball and grabbed it up neatly with one hand.
While attempting to steal a quick single, Bracewell nearly ran into non-striker Daryl Mitchell. Kuldeep did not collect Jadeja’s throw by going behind the stumps. Rather, he stood near where he had completed his follow through and watched the throw miss the mark. Bracewell had given up on getting to the crease, and if Kuldeep had backed up the throw, he could have had an impact on the run-out.
Both Virat Kohli and Jadeja expressed their displeasure at Kuldeep’s fielding performance.
Following the over, Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, also questioned Kuldeep about why he doesn’t stand behind the stumps to catch throws. For the uninitiated, a similar incident occurred during the India-Australia semi-final when the left-arm spinner failed to back up and instead let a throw from Kohli go towards the stumps. Following the event, Rohit and Kohli gave him a tongue-lash.
Today’s Fielding Medal goes to Varun Chakravarthy.#INDvsNZ
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Kuldeep again🙃🙃 pic.twitter.com/dnOXejwPpd
— SAITAMA 👊 (@TheXSensei) March 9, 2025
Kuldeep takes two important wickets.
Although the 30-year-old Kuldeep may need to improve his fielding, he was very effective with the ball on Sunday. Following the initial powerplay, he claimed the crucial wickets of Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra in back-to-back overs to put India in a commanding position.
Before the final, Kuldeep had only taken five wickets in four games. However, he concluded with impressive statistics of 2/40 in 10 overs.
India
