IPL 2024: David Miller calls struggling Kuldeep Yadav a 'match-winner'

Ahead of DC's match vs KKR, David Miller backed struggling spinner Kuldeep Yadav, calling him a 'match-winner'. Miller also spoke on DC's fielding issues and praised teammate Tristan Stubbs, saying 'the sky is the limit for him'.

Ahead of his side's match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Delhi Capitals (DC) batter David Miller backed a struggling Kuldeep Yadav amid poor form, calling him "skilful" and a "match-winner".

DC, struggling for life in this tournament after four successive losses at home, will be aiming to keep their playoff chances alive against KKR, who are upbeat after three successive wins following a six-match winless run.

Kuldeep has been poor in this edition of the IPL, having taken just seven scalps in 10 matches at an average of 44.42 and an economy rate of 10.36, with best figures of 2/31.

Miller Backs 'Match-Winner' Kuldeep

Speaking during the pre-match presser, Miller recalled his battles with Kuldeep, revealing he "does not like facing him".

"With someone like Kuldeep, I have always played against him, and I do not like facing him. But now I am with him in the same team and squad, and he adds so much to the team. He is a great character, and for me it is important to have those kind of guys continually playing. Because he is a match-winner. So take the good with the bad. There have been one or two games where he has not bowled the best that he could have bowled. But that is the same for everyone. You are not always going to be on. But he prepares really well. He is always up for the game and the battle. And he is really skillful," he added.

On Team's Fielding Struggles

Speaking on the team's fielding struggles, which has involved plenty of dropped catches, Miller said that the team has worked hard in the field department and put in some hard yards during training.

"I love fielding. I do not bowl obviously, as you all know. But for me, fielding is an attitude. It is about really making sure that you want the ball to come to you. You want to make a difference in the field. Whether it is a diving catch or an easy catch or a run-out opportunity, always wanting to be in the game," he said.

"And then generally you get into better positions. So I think maybe that could be something. I mean it is difficult to pinpoint exactly because everyone is different and everyone fields in different positions. It could be light, it could be whatever."

"So I just think at the end of the day, like with our batting and bowling and fielding department, we have just got to make sure that we are really on for the next four games," he signed off.

The Capitals' catching efficiency of 64.5 per cent is the lowest in the tournament.

Praise for Teammate Tristan Stubbs

He also heaped praises on his South African teammate Tristan Stubbs, saying that "the sky is the limit for him" with his "tiger's hunting mentality".

"Great to have someone like that in the team. As you mentioned, he is so enthusiastic and passionate about the game and hugely competitive as an individual. Even if you are just throwing the ball around in the pool, he wants to beat you at that. So it is great to have that kind of tiger's hunting mentality. I think with him, he has still got so much to offer. He is so young. He has played for a while already, but I think he is around 25 or 26. And the sky is the limit with him. He has already showed a lot of consistency. And he has got the grit to kind of bat long periods of time. And then in T20 cricket, he has got all the shots, the laps, the reverses, hitting straight down the ground, the power. So he has got everything. It is just about, like everyone, trying to be more consistent really. But this IPL he has done phenomenally well, so it is good," he signed off.

In 10 matches and nine innings this season, Stubbs has scored 257 runs in nine innings at an average of 51.40, with a strike rate of 136.70, including two fifties.

Squads

Delhi Capitals Squad

Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul(w), Nitish Rana, Karun Nair, Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, T Natarajan, Vipraj Nigam, Abishek Porel, Auqib Nabi Dar, David Miller, Dushmantha Chameera, Kyle Jamieson, Rehan Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prithvi Shaw, Tripurana Vijay, Sahil Parakh, Madhav Tiwari

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad

Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rinku Singh, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra, Blessing Muzarabani, Matheesha Pathirana, Rahul Tripathi, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Saurabh Dubey, Umran Malik, Daksh Kamra. (ANI)

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