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'We are giving him a lot of love and attention. He's a terrific young guy.'
A phenomenal talent like Kuldeep Yadav required a "positive environment", filled with a lot of "love and attention" to blossom and he got that at Delhi Capitals, says head coach Ricky Ponting.
The left-arm wrist spinner, who is currently second in the list of wicket-takers with 17 scalps, had a rough three years prior to this IPL edition after being confined to the bench by the erstwhile national team management and not getting enough support from his previous IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders.
Add to that a major knee surgery that ruled him out of last IPL.
"We are really pleased for him. He was one of our main targets in the auction. We are giving him a lot of love and attention. He's a terrific young guy and this talented left-arm leg-spinner really seems to be thriving in this (positive) environment," said Ponting, on Star Sports Cricket Live.
At a base price of Rs 2 crore, Kuldeep was a steal for the Delhi Capitals management at a time when most of the franchises were sceptical about how he would measure up post-surgery, having not played much cricket prior to that.
In the case of Kuldeep, the Delhi Capitals management has tried to create a protective environment in which the Kanpur player feels secured, and that has led to him bowling beautifully.
"We are all pretty wrapped with him and make sure that we keep things in line with him and not let him get too far ahead of himself. And, at the moment, he's bowling beautifully."