‘Dhoni isn’t there anymore to help him’: Former India pacer says Kuldeep Yadav needs to judge LBWs better to take DRS

Former Indian speedster Ashish Nehra has given an important piece of advice to chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav following India’s 4-wicket defeat in the 2nd T20I against Sri Lanka on Wednesday. The former left-arm pacer suggested that Kuldeep needs to judge the lbws better to convince his captain for DRS as former captain and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni is no more in the team to guide him.

Nehra’s comment comes after Kuldeep missed out on an opportunity to dismiss Dasun Shanaka during Sri Lanka’s chase of 133. The wrist-spinner had caught the opposition skipper plumb in front but the umpire wasn’t convinced to raise his finger. Kuldeep was determined to call for DRS but wicketkeeper Sanju Samson wasn’t confident about the possibility of a dismissal. The hosts didn’t take the review while the ball-tracking showed three reds

Speaking about the lack of judgement, Nehra opined that the bowler should have given the benefit of doubt at that moment.

‘Kuldeep was playing after a long time. The captain was new and so was the wicketkeeper; that’s one way of thinking about this. The second point of view is, you have to learn this. You had two reviews and should have gone for it when it was against batsmen Shanaka and Hasaranga who have played the most for Sri Lanka in the last few months. 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 told Cricbuzz.

‘Kuldeep Yadav must learn this. MS Dhoni isn’t there anymore to help him out. It’s Sanju Samson. So, as a bowler, you should put even more pressure on the captain saying, please take the review, we have two of them,’ he added.

Kuldeep Yadav, however, got Shanaka in his next over, trapping him in the turn to allow Samson affect a stumping off a wide ball. The wrist-spinner picked up another wicket and returned figures of 30 for 2.

India and Sri Lanka will square off against each other in the series decider on Thursday, at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.