IND vs SL 2021 | Kuldeep Yadav should learn to take DRS without MS Dhoni's guidance: Ashish Nehra
Ashish Nehra believes it's high time Kuldeep Yadav came out of MS Dhoni's shadow during Decision Review System (DRS) calls. Nehra said the spinner needs to judge lbws better and learn to convince his captain to review without depending on the wicket-keeper.
Ashish Nehra's observation came in light of Kuldeep Yadav's T20I comeback in the second India-Sri Lanka T20I. The 26-year-old was on the money from his first over and had even caught opposition skipper Dasun Shanaka plumb in front on the wickets on the second ball. However, the umpire turned down the appeal.
Kuldeep Yadav was resolute in convincing skipper Shikhar Dhawan to review, but wicket-keeper Sanju Samson thought the ball would have gone over the stumps. Ashish Nehra said considering how India had both their reviews left and were defending a small target, they should have given the bowler the benefit of the doubt. Nehra told Cricbuzz:
"See, the bowler was playing after a long time, the captain was new and even the wicketkeeper was new; that's one way of thinking about this. The second point of view is that you have to learn this: you had two reviews and Shanaka, Hasaranga, these guys are the experienced ones who have played the most for Sri Lanka in the last few months, so you should have gone for it. Even if you weren't 100% sure and lose the review, still it's not a big deal. These are the things that they should keep in mind."
Nehra added:
"And Kuldeep Yadav should also learn this. MS Dhoni isn't there anymore to help you out, it's Sanju Samson. So as a bowler you should put even more pressure on the captain saying, 'Gabbar (Shikhar Dhawan's pet name) bhai lelo, 2 review hai humare paas (Please take the review, we have two of them)!'"
The DRS blunder, however, didn't bore much on the result of the match as Kuldeep Yadav got his man in the very next over, deceiving him in turn and allowing Samson an easy stumping off a wide ball. The left-arm spinner went on to pick up another wicket and returned with the best bowling figures for India in the match - 4-0-30-2.
"Kuldeep Yadav has really increased his chances of being a part of India's T20 World Cup squad" - Paras Mhambrey
India's bowling coach for the Sri Lanka tour, Paras Mhambrey, was also all praise for Kuldeep Yadav's effort.
Mhambrey said that with his comeback, the tweaker has once again come into contention for a place in the Indian squad for this year's T20 World Cup. Mhambrey asserted in the post-match press conference:
"He (Kuldeep Yadav) is a very talented and a thinking bowler. There is a lot of discussions that we have before the games. Seeing the videos, discussing the plans but the execution is for which he needs to be given credit. Yes, he has been in and out of the team. He knows he has to work hard to maintain his position and he is doing that and I am so happy to see the results. He has really increased his chances of being a part of the T20 World Cup squad."
Despite heroics from Kuldeep Yadav and co. with the ball, India failed to defend 133 on a sluggish pitch and allowed the hosts to level the three-match T20I series at 1-1. The series decider will begin at 8 PM IST on Thursday.