Virat Kohli wants chinaman Kuldeep Yadav to keep working hard

Team India is in ruthless form at the moment and simply demolished the Sri Lankans in the recently concluded Test series. Virat Kohli and his extremely talented bunch of cricketers won the series 3-0, thereby whitewashing the Lankans that too away in their own backyard. Hence it goes without saying, one has to be extremely consistent to nail down his place in the playing XI of Ravi Shastri’s team.

There is a lot of competition in the team and a lot of names who got the opportunity and performed as well, haven’t managed to hold on to their spots. After a match-winning debut against Australia, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav was selected for the Test series against Sri Lanka, but Ravindra Jadeja who is an experienced campaigner and the no.1 Test bowler is the first choice.

Since the all-rounder was banned from the last game, Yadav got a chance which he utilised well enough. He took 5 wickets in the Test match. But Kohli has made it clear that the 22-year old youngster from Uttar Pradesh must keep up the good work to be a constant member of his elite side.

“Kuldeep will have to keep working hard on his game. He is a great talent, we know that, but to keep that fitness and form going, he has to keep working hard. He has the desire to do so. We have faith in him, and he has delivered every time he has played. So it is a great sign for him,” said the leader of the pack.

MSK Prasad has eyes set on both short and long term objectives

India will now take on the Lankans in the limited-overs series. Chief selector MSK Prasad and his team announced the squad on Sunday. When asked about the future plans for Indian cricket, Prasad said that they are looking after both short and long term objectives.

“We have a keen eye on both short and long term objectives. We cannot ignore the forthcoming home cycle wherein India will play Australia and New Zealand in limited- overs’ cricket and we also have to build for England in 2019,” he said in a press meet on Monday.

“We wanted to start this process with the limited-overs’ tour to West Indies’ itself, but we couldn’t do it because of the short change-around time after the Champions Trophy. We had to send the same team to the Caribbean as we did to England. We also have to consider Test cricket and India have three tough challenges in South Africa, England and Australia in 2018. We have to prepare for all formats simultaneously, and in hindsight, this county stint for our senior bowlers opens a great window of opportunity for us,” Prasad further added.

Regarding young Kuldeep, the head of the selection committee shared the same opinion and suggested the youngster that he must formulate new ways to counter the batter’s plans. “A chinaman bowler is slightly different from what people usually face so they can make an impact longer than other bowlers. But you still have to keep working on your game, keep finding ways to make batsmen think twice and take those wickets, giving the team breakthroughs,” he concluded.