Tatenda Taibu reveals Dravid's advice to tackle Anil Kumble
Jan 24, 2021
New Delhi [India], January 24 : Former Zimbabwe skipper Tatenda Taibu on Sunday revealed the advice he received from Rahul Dravid to play better against spin legend Anil Kumble.
Taibu said that he got the advice after the match between India and Zimbabwe concluded. He revealed that Dravid advised him to play with his bat ahead of the pad.
"When Anil Kumble got me out 3 out of 4 times in my first 2 tests in India. I got advice from Dravid,(after match drinks) to play him like a slow medium pace bowler but WITH bat infront of the pads while still playing late. And mostly importantly watching the ball very closely. It can be learnt fairly easy. It's just getting the timing of looking to come forward on the front foot without committing and WATCHING the ball as opposed to looking at the ball," Taibu tweeted.
As England openers Dom Sibley and Zack Crawley continue to struggle against Sri Lanka's spinners, former England skipper Kevin Pietersen on Saturday had shared an email sent by Rahul Dravid to him as he felt it might help both batters tackle spin.
Sibley (0) and Crawley (5) were once again dismissed by Lasith Embuldeniya in the first innings of the ongoing second Test on Saturday. This is the third time in a row that both batters were sent back to the pavilion by Embuldeniya.
"Hey @englandcricket, print this and give it to Sibley & Crawley. They can call me to discuss it at length if they want," Pietersen had tweeted.
During his playing career, there came a patch when Pietersen was struggling against spinners and the batsman opted to reach out to Dravid for some advice.
Dravid had then sent Pietersen a lengthy email describing how he can get the better of spinners. Pietersen had also described the whole incident in his book titled "KP: The Autobiography".
In his letter, Dravid had advised Pietersen to try picking up the bowler's length out of their hands in the nets. He also asked the English batsman to bat without pads against Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar in the nets, in order to help him to reach the length of the ball.
