'He is a different kind of a bowler, you have got to be a little patient with him.'
'He is the kind of a bowler who can win you matches in the future.'
Impressed with Kuldeep Yadav's performance in the ongoing Indian Premier League, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar offered "honest advice" to India's selectors to keep an eye on the young left-arm spinner.
Playing in place of the more experienced Piyush Chawla, Yadav turned out to be Kolkata Knight Riders' surprise weapon as they sealed a place in the IPL play-offs with a 22-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.
"He has been quite impressive and my honest advice to the Indian selectors will be to keep an eye on this young man. And the fact that he is a different kind of a bowler, you have got to be a little patient with him, but he is the kind of a bowler who can win you matches in the future. We should keep an eye on him," Gavaskar told NDTV about the 22-year-old Kanpur-born lad.
Yadav (2-28) dismissed a well-set Shikhar Dhawan (51) to trigger Sunrisers' collapse and help the Knight Riders restrict them to just 149 for eight.
He also turned in a fine performance on Wednesday in the Eliminator against the Sunrisers, dismissing David Warner, Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting to finish with three wickets for 35 runs, though in a losing cause.
After a decent outing in the Champions League, Yadav was included in India's ODI squad for the series against the West Indies in October 2014, and made his first-class and List A debuts shortly after.
Gavaskar said one should not read too much into Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli walking up to the fourth umpire during his team's IPL Qualifier 1 against Gujarat Lions in Bengaluru on Tuesday night.
Chasing 159, RCB were reeling at 68 for six when Stuart Binny was wrongly given out in the 10th over, much to the chagrin of Kohli, who was up on his feet in the dug out.
Asked if Kohli had overreacted, Gavaskar responded in the negative.
"I don't think so. I think he just went to the umpire to enquire what was happening. I don't think he was going to argue. You have got to understand sometimes captains and coaches want to know what is the rationale behind a particular decision. He just wanted a clarification. And clearly the umpires can give a clarification if they want to or they can turn and say 'look we are doing our business, you do yours'.
"I don't think it was a confrontation. It was a skipper who is so involved and committed to the team winning the trophy; they have not won the trophy. We should not read too much into it," the former India captain said.
After AB de Villiers propelled RCB to an improbable victory from the verge of defeat, Kohli declared that the South African is the best in the world. Asked if he agreed with the current Indian batting maestro, Gavaskar was on the same page.
On a lighter note, Gavaskar said, "Are you mad? If I say something Virat will come and confront me. Virat says AB is number one, so he is number one.”
