One player for the Indian team who has been making a lot of news off late has been Kuldeep Yadav. The youngster has managed to make himself a regular starter for the squad after managing to bowl very well against the Sri Lankans and the Australians.
His rise is still a work in progress but it looks like it won’t be long before he finds himself playing regularly for the squad.
However, off late, Kuldeep Yadav has been very active and open about his comments regarding the Australian team and their players. The most popular one has been the comment he made regarding Australia’s opening batsman, David Warner.
“I guess he (Warner) takes pressure while batting against me, and feels I can get him out anytime. It’s good that there’s no pressure on me and I enjoy bowling to him. I always feel to get him out and set my plans accordingly. I will try to get him out more,” Kuldeep Yadav said in a press conference after the second ODI.
Too soon?
Though Yadav is a good cricketer and someone who lets his cricket do the talking, is playing such mind games so early on in his career justified? He said that he could get David Warner out at any stage of the game.
He said that he feels no pressure while bowling to the opener and that Warner was the one over pressure.However, Warner did respond positively and said that he liked the confidence that Kuldeep had.
He also said that he had the same confidence when he was younger but Yadav needs to understand that he still has a lot of games to be played.
“I like Kuldeep’s confidence. Credit to him for the way he bowled (in Kolkata). But the pressure is on him to perform, not me. You have played two Test matches and nine ODIs – when you are young, you have that confidence. I remember I had that kind of confidence when I was young and probably said things I would not now.
“He has been doing well and he has confidence that is what he brings to the table. But when he speaks like that, he is bringing the pressure on himself,” David Warner had said.
While it is nice to see Warner take these comments sportingly, it must be noted that Yadav’s comments aren’t too smart. He is still young and has played only 9 ODIs and 2 Test matches. He has a long way to go in his career and making such comments does not bode well if he wants to be taken as an example by other youngsters.
It’s fine that he plays mind games with the Australians also, as Virat Kohli’s effect would have rubbed off on most of the players, but provoking a veteran like Warner is not the right way to go and he must learn to be humble for a while before he can start making such comments.
