'It hurts' - worry lines at DC as Kuldeep's sorry lines (and lengths) continue

Kuldeep Yadav has been well off his best this season, and that's one of the reasons DC have had a disappointing year

ESPNcricinfo staff

Published: May 9, 2026, 6:57 AM (7 hrs ago)

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Dasgupta: Kuldeep should be bowling fuller

One of the things that have gone wrong for Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2026 - and it's becoming a pretty long list - is Kuldeep Yadav. It has been a talking point right through the tournament, and his failures have become more and more glaring as the number of games without success has grown to six, including the last three appearances.

"We are facing that failure," DC's director of cricket Venugopal Rao said at the press conference after DC's loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday, when Kuldeep returned none for 41 from three overs, all bowled after the powerplay. It was DC's seventh loss of the season, to go with four wins.

In 11 appearances this season - all of DC's games - Kuldeep has seven wickets. His economy rate has been 10.66. And his average is 50.28. Also worth a mention: of all bowlers to have sent down at least 30 overs in IPL 2026, only T Natarajan, who bowls a lot at the death, has a higher economy rate (11.18) than Kuldeep's.

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Against KKR, he was hit for at least two boundaries in each of his three overs, and five of them were sixes. Two off short balls, and three off full ones. Four by Finn Allen. One by Cameron Green. The lengths were off for the most part, and the line was often well outside off. And that's something Deep Dasgupta pointed to.

"My thing with Kuldeep is that you can't be hit for six over square leg off a short ball, and over long-off and long on [as well]," Dasgupta said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show. "So yes, you will get hit. This is that kind of a format. [But] I'd rather have him be hit over mid-off and mid-on - down the ground - rather than square of the wicket or extra cover. Anything off the front foot [is fine]. You get hit off the front foot fair enough, but not of the back foot."

Which is what happened with Kuldeep on Friday since he couldn't control his lengths, or his line for that matter. The first six, off a flighted delivery, went straight. The second was a short delivery, a googly, that went to midwicket. The third, to Green, was short, slow off the pitch, and went over midwicket as well. The fourth was a googly, flighted, but right in the hitting arc outside off stump. And the last one could have been dealt with similarly but Allen chose the slog sweep this time.

"I saw a lot of deliveries between fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth stump, just in that nice hand-freeing arc"

Mitchell McClenaghan

Perhaps because the target for KKR was well within sight, Kuldeep was given a slip for his second and third overs, and Dasgupta liked that.

"The moment you put a slip in place, from a bowler's point of view, you're thinking, 'I need to pick a wicket'. You're not picking a wicket off a short ball, right? You're picking a wicket off a fuller delivery. So straightaway, mentally, you're bowling fuller, So that is the kind of space that you'd rather have Kuldeep in. Even if he gets hit, it's off the front foot down the ground rather than square of the wicket."

That said, ESPNcricinfo's data says that Kuldeep has bowled 70 full-length deliveries this season, and batters have scored 178 runs off them at a strike rate of 254.28, with nine fours and 18 sixes. That strike rate is up from 133.65 last season, and 168.88 in IPL 2024. And he has just two wickets from full deliveries this season. With all other lengths, he has conceded 171 runs in 128 balls, a strike rate of 133.59. And got five wickets. But he has not stuck to his lengths too many balls in a row, or found the right lines to go with it.

Mitchell McClenaghan, on the same show, explained what Kuldeep wasn't doing right against KKR.

"I saw a lot of deliveries between fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth stump, just in that nice hand-freeing arc," McClenaghan said. "Whether he was a little bit shorter or a little bit full, there were not a lot of balls that were hitting either the top of leg stump or three-quarters of the way up leg stump, or [he was] outside the wide line, when you know guys are trying to go after you. You have to play the corners of the base."

After Kuldeep had gone at 11.33 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in DC's previous game, where the innings scoring rate was 9.08, his captain Axar Patel had said: "When we were bowling, I missed my partner Kuldeep."

Rao sounded despondent on Friday night. "We are facing it, and we are receiving it. Person like him, with Axar and all, if these two continues in good form [it helps]. [But] one is doing well, one is not, it hurts in a bowling group. So we are facing that failure. [But we] always want him to do well."

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