'If he was your favourite bowler....?': Kuldeep Yadav's coach slams Dinesh Karthik, KKR for dropping him

Kuldeep Yadav had a good outing in 2022. It was the year of revival for the wrist spinner following his successful run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 edition. After being released from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in late 2021, he was bought by the Delhi Capitals (DC) and played all games for the franchise in last year's edition, returning with 21 wickets (fifth-most overall). While he is still not a regular across formats for Team India, his run for DC surely grabbed eyeballs as the 28-year-old has seen his stocks go down following IPL 2019.

During IPL 2019-2021, Kuldeep was part of KKR (his first-ever franchise) but only played a handful of games. He featured in only 14 games in 2019 and 2020 before entirely missing the 2021 season. While he was not in the best of form as well, many criticised KKR for their treatment towards the star spinner. Back then, Karthik was the KKR captain when Kuldeep became out of favour. Recently, the veteran keeper-batter praised Kuldeep -- following his recent five-fer in the India-Bangladesh Tests -- but the spinner's coach has slammed DK and the Kolkata franchise for dropping him.

Speaking to Sportskeeda, Kuldeep's coach Kapil Pandey said, "When he was with Kolkata and Karthik was the captain, he used to give him just 1-2 overs each game. Now he says that Kuldeep is his favourite Indian bowler. "Favorite tha to usko khilaaya kyu nahi? Usko khilaate? (If he was your favourite, then why didn't you play him?) But that’s okay, that’s past now and I believe the future will be great for Kuldeep."

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Further, Kapil lauded DC's team management for backing Kuldeep's talent in IPL 2022. "He used to be badly neglected in Kolkata, but it has been the complete opposite in Delhi. Rishabh Pant, Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson and others have backed and supported him and that really helped him play freely "Ponting told him that he will play all games, and when you hear this as a bowler, your morale gets boosted. Rishabh also backed him in all situations and so he deserves a lot of praise for Kuldeep’s comeback," he added.