India vs Australia 2017: Kuldeep Yadav must avoid too many gurus says Laxman Sivaramakrishnan
What’s the story?
Former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has said that Indian left-am chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav should refrain himself from taking too much advice with regards to his bowling and urged current Anil Kumble to guide him in the future.
“In terms of skill, he is definitely a long-term prospect. But he has to watch out for a few things. First off, there will be too many people giving him advice after this early success.He must avoid too many gurus. He has to know which ones to listen to and which to discard. I believe Anil Kumble should guide his career from here on. He must pick Kumble's brains, learn how to focus,” the former leg-spinner told the Times of India.
Siva also felt that regardless of which format he is playing in, he must always look to pick up wickets.
“Modern cricketers have to play different formats, so there's no point asking them to avoid that. But Kuldeep must keep bowling to get wickets.“ he said.
In case you didn’t know...
On Saturday, India picked Kuldeep for the Dharamshala Test and the Uttar Pradesh cricketer responded by picking up 4 wickets in a 23-over spell that turned the match in his side’s favour, after the visitors had got off to a great start in the opening session.
He removed David Warner, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins to enable his side restrict Australia to 300 all-out.
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The heart of the matter
Siva further added that he had been tracking the youngster’s career ever since the 2014 Champions League, where he played a key role in the Kolkata Knight Riders reaching the final, where they lost to the Chennai Super Kings.
On the morning of the Test, Kuldeep received his Test cap from Siva, who revealed that the 22-year-old was a bit emotional and advised him to keep things steady and bowl good balls, which would yield him more wickets.
Here’s a video of Kuldeep picking up his maiden Test wicket:
Author's take
A lot of time in the past we have seen young Indian cricketers take too many suggestions from external sources, thereby not knowing whose advice to put to use and whose not. Hence, Siva’s words do make a lot of sense and Kuldeep would do well to listen to them going forward in his career.