Former India captain Kapil Dev on Sunday slammed Test discard Yuvraj Singh, saying the left-hander must stop attending late night parties and instead focus on cricket.
"He [Yuvraj] should focus on cricket and work hard ... he must exhibit his talent at a proper place rather than elsewhere," Kapil said in Chandigarh when asked about Yuvraj's party habit.
Drawing parallels between Yuvraj and his father Yograj Singh, a former Test cricketer, Kapil said, "If Yuvraj devotes even 50 per cent of the hard work that his father put in, no one can stop him from remaining in the [Test] team."
"He [Yuvraj] is a talented player. But he should spend more time on ground and remain focus to the game," said the 1983 World Cup-winning captain.
"He is a young player ... I can understand that a player of his age do have lot of courage," he added.
The former all-rounder said India does not need to hire a foreign coaches since there are so many ex-players in the country, who could make a contribution.
"I think the board has become smart ... the country has no dearth of good players who can become good coach. Big organisations should know how to use players like me and Sunil Gavaskar. If they are failing to do so it's their mistake," Kapil, who had taken 434 wickets in 131 Tests, said.
Without taking any name, the 'Haryana Hurricane' alleged that few "selfish persons" don't want to let the former cricketers come forward to serve the game.
"Gavaskar wants to work for the country ... I do it to best of my ability, what else can I do," he said.
Drawing parallels between the 'rebel' Indian Cricket League (ICL), of which he is the Executive Board Chairman, and BCCI's Indian Premier League (IPL), Kapil said, "There is nothing wrong in more than one organisation working to promote cricket ... one organisation cannot look after everything."
Asked about BCCI not allowing its cricketers play for English counties which has ICL players, he said, "It is unfortunate. A game is a game and only the Central Government is authorised to stop any player from playing in a different country," he said.
Kapil also had some words of praise for two former skippers Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar.
"We should be happy as long as Tendulkar is there," he said.
