Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav was once again put under the pump on Tuesday, with both his stand-in captain Rishabh Pant and former coach Ravi Shastri criticising his laxity in the ongoing Guwahati Test against South Africa. It happened before the 48th over of the Proteas’ second innings. Kuldeep was seen setting his field, which angered Pant, who had already been warned about India’s needlessly high turnaround time between overs.
Under the ICC stop-clock rule, the fielding team must be ready to start the next over within 60 seconds. Two warnings are issued for delays, and a third offence results in five penalty runs being added to the batting side.
“Pehla ball daal de yaar, aisa mat kar yaar, baar baar nahi bolunga main yeh (Bowl the first ball,
man. Don’t do this. I won’t ask again),” Pant told the spinner.
Shastri, who once called Kuldeep India’s leading spinner for overseas conditions, also heard and piled on the criticism.
“You can hear what Rishabh Pant is saying from the back,” he said. “It can be frustrating. He has been warned for the amount of time taken between overs. As a bowler, you should know your field. You can’t come in there and then start moving people around. One look should be enough for the fielder to know where he should be, rather than you gesturing every two balls. And a warning comes between overs, when there is time taken, you need to bowl that first ball. That’s what Rishabh is saying.”
It came after another shoddy day for India. South Africa piled on their misery, declaring at 260/5 and then getting two wickets before Stumps, leaving India needing 522 runs.
This wasn’t the first time Pant, who is standing in for Shubman Gill, scolded Kuldeep on the pitch for this reason. The same happened on the first day of the Test.
“Yaar, 30 seconds ka timer hai. Ghar pe khel rahe ho kya? Ek ball daal jaldi. (The timer is on. Are you playing at your home? Just bowl the ball quickly,” Pant was heard as saying on the stump mic on Saturday. “Yaar Kuldeep, dono baar warning le li. Pura ek over thodi na chahiye. Mazak bana rakha hai Test cricket ko (Kuldeep, we got the second warning. Do you guys need an entire over (to move)? You guys have made Test cricket a joke),” he added.
