CSK vs KKR: Umesh Yadav Achieves A Unique Feat In The IPL 2022 Season Opener

In the IPL 2022 season opener between defending champion Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday, Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Umesh Yadav completed an interesting and unique achievement.

Yadav took CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad for a duck in the first over of the match, becoming him the only four-bowler in IPL history to take a wicket in the opening over of a season opener.

Not only that, but the Gaikwad wicket was Yadav’s eighth IPL wicket in his first over. Yadav, who was warming the benches for his first IPL game in over two years after missing the entire IPL 2021, was instrumental in getting KKR off to a good start, as after Gaikwad’s wicket.

He went on to scalp Devon Conway in the fifth over of the match and finished with economical figures of 4-0-20-2, despite having started the proceedings with a front foot no-balls and then a couple of wides in the first over itself.

Yadav joined Brett, Chaminda Vaas, and Iqbal Abdullah as the only players to take a wicket in an IPL season’s first over. During the 2013 season’s first over, Lee uprooted Unmukt Chand’s stumps. Abdulla of KKR defeated CSK’s Srikanth Anirudha, while Vaas of Deccan Chargers defeated Manoj Tiwary.

Umesh Yadav helped KKR in restricting CSK’s total:

KKR bowlers capitalized on Yadav’s early starts and quickly reduced CSK to 61/5, before MS Dhoni and new skipper Ravindra Jadeja revived the innings slightly with a 70-run sixth-wicket stand.

With 170 wickets, Dwayne Bravo matched IPL great Lasith Malinga’s record for most wickets in IPL history. In his four overs, the allrounder took 3/20. CSK, on the other hand, were unable to defend their low score of 131/4, with KKR winning by six wickets under new skipper Shreyas Iyer.

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