It is very much possible to whitewash New Zealand, says Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav, who is riding high on confidence after his terrific hat-trick against Australia, said that his team will look to whitewash New Zealand in the three-match one-day international series, starting on Sunday. The 22-year-old from Kanpur made rapid strides in limited-overs cricket over the past couple of months and has developed a partnership with leggie Yuzvendra Chahal in order to shoulder the Indian spin attack in back-to-back series victories as they assumed the responsibility that Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were handling till now.

He has become a serious threat for the opposition teams with just two Tests and 11 one-day internationals to his name. Kuldeep’s success with the ball has already set the alarm bells ringing in the visitors’ camp. New Zealand batsman Tom Latham recently said that his team is leaving no stone unturned in seeking a way to counter the Kuldeep-Chahal duo. Ahead of India’s series against New Zealand, Kuldeep told India TV that it is good to see the visiting team speaking about him but he also admitted that it will be a challenge for him to perform after the expectations he has raise.

“It is heartening to see the New Zealand players speaking about me even before the start of the series. Your team expects you carry on your performance throughout the series. It is a boost for you and at the same time, it is challenging as the opposition team has its eyes on me. It is an important time for me as I have to deliver on the expectations and I am taking it as a challenge,” Kuldeep told India TV.

Re-claim top status

Last week, India lost their No. 1 rank in the ICC ODI rankings to South Africa following the Proteas’ win over Bangladesh in the second match of the ongoing series. While India and South Africa have identical 120 points against their names, India are placed second on the basis of decimal points. In order to re-claim the status, India will have to conquer the New Zealand challenge. Kuldeep said India are eager to get back to the number one spot and they will look to win the series 3-0.

“We want to give our top performance. It would be very good if we can beat them by 3-0 and I think it is very much possible keeping in mind the way we are have been playing throughout the year. It won’t be much difficult for us as we are playing good cricket,” he said.