NEW DELHI: It is a tradition of sorts in cricket that the bowler who taken the maximum wickets in the innings or a match leads his teammates off the field after the day's play or at the end of the match.
Kuldeep Yadav took 5/72 to bowl out England for 218 in their first innings on the first day of the 5th Test in Dharamshala.
But having high respect and regard for his senior teammate Ravichandran Ashwin, the left-arm wrist spinner asked the veteran off-spinner who had taken four wickets in his 100th Test, to lead the team off and even tossed the ball at him.
But Ashwin, a team man to the core, tossed the ball back to Kuldeep and asked him to do the honours.
Kuldeep quickly handed it back, and Mohammed Siraj was seen cajoling Ashwin to accept the offer.
After some hard convincing by Ashwin, it fell to Kuldeep again to show off the ball to the crowd with a shy smile on his face.
The Indian cricket board (BCCI) shared a video of the moment on X:
Later, on being asked whether he kept the ball or returned it to Ashwin, Kuldeep said, "He said he already has 35 balls, and asked me to keep this one."
Only time will tell if this was a rare passing-of-the-mantle moment in Indian cricket.
