The Indian cricket team‘s left-arm spin sensation, Kuldeep Yadav, weaved his magic with his wrist-spin in the Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025. The sturdy spinner was a consistent force throughout India’s 7 matches in the tournament. Notably, Kuldeep was the chief architect in Pakistan’s downfall with the bat in the Asia Cup final. His four-wicket haul helped India bowl the Men in Green out for a score worth 146.
Kuldeep stars in the final, forces a collapse
Pakistan were up and running as openers Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman added 84 runs. Thereafter, they were going along nicely before Saim Ayub perished to Kuldeep with the score being 113/2. This opened the floodgates as fellow spinner Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy joined in and had Pakistan reeling at 131/5. Kuldeep then bowled a magical 17th over where he downed three Pakistani batsmen.
He got Salman Agha off the 1st ball of the over. A blind slog resulted in his dismissal. Then the fourth ball of the over, produced the wicket of Shaheen Afridi, who tried to be over aggressive. The final ball of the over had Faheem Ashraf going for glory and it resulted in his wicket.
Kuldeep, who gave away 23 runs from his 1st two overs, picked 4/7 from his last 2 to end with figures worth 4/30.
Kuldeep’s tournament in numbers
Kuldeep started his Asia Cup 2025 journey with a spell worth 4/7 against UAE in the group stage. He then managed 3/18 against Pakistan and 1/23 versus Oman. In the Super 4 stage, he managed 1/31 against Pakistan and then rattled Bangladesh with a three-fer (3/18). Versus Sri Lanka, he bagged 1/31 and now in the final, he managed 4/30.
As per ESPNcricinfo, Kuldeep bowled 25.1 overs in the Asia Cup 2025 from 7 matches, conceding just 158 runs. He posted an average of 9.29 and an economy rate of 6.27. He claimed 2 four-fers and two three-fers.
Kuldeep equals Farooqi and Arshdeep in terms of this record
Kuldeep now owns the joint-most wickets in a T20I series among Full Member Teams. He equalled the likes of Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi and India’s Arshdeep Singh. Both Farooqi and Arshdeep picked 17 wickets each in the Men’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
Among spinners, this is now the best tally. Kuldeep went past Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga, who managed 16 wickets in the T20 World Cup 2021.
Most wickets in a T20I series (Full Member teams):
17 – Kuldeep Yadav, Asia Cup 2025 (ER: 6.27)
17 – Fazalhaq Farooqi, T20 WC 2024 (ER: 6.31)
17 – Arshdeep Singh, T20 WC 2024 (ER: 7.16)
16 – Wanindu Hasaranga, T20 WC 2021 (ER: 5.20)
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