After sitting out in the ODIs, Chahal makes chance count in T20I vs West Indies
Yuzvendra Chahal has spent the past week soaking in the idyllic surroundings of the Caribbean. Despite being in the squad for the three one-dayers that India won 2-1, Chahal simply bided his time on the sidelines with Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel being the spinners preferred.
Yuzvendra Chahal of India celebrates the dismissal of Kyle Mayers of West Indies during the first T20I(AFP)
The start of the T20I series at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad, rightly paved the way for Chahal’s inclusion. The 33-year-old leg-spinner is a certified T20 great — his tally of 187 wickets in 145 matches is the most by a bowler in the IPL.
And he immediately stamped his imprint on the first T20I on Thursday as West Indies finished on 149/6 after opting to bat. Handed the ball by skipper Hardik Pandya in the fifth over of the innings after openers Brandon King and Kyle Mayers took the hosts to 29/0, the wily leggie trapped the latter off his very first delivery.
With the left-handed Mayers predictably eyeing the big heave on the leg side, Chahal was equally predictable in beginning with a googly. Mayers misread the delivery and Chahal went up in appeal as soon as the ball hit the pad. The umpire raised his index finger in agreement, prompting Mayers to begin the long walk back to the dressing room even as the replays showed the ball to be missing off-stump.
Just a delivery later, Chahal trapped King leg-before. On this occasion, there was no doubt about where the ball was headed. King, anticipating a leg-break perhaps, played for the turn when Chahal’s delivery went straight on.
It wasn’t all smooth-sailing for the Indian spinners though. Fresh from a breathtaking hundred for MI New York in Major League Cricket in the United States, the 27-year-old left-hander seemed in the mood to unleash more mayhem. He began by lofting Chahal over mid-off for four before slog-sweeping him for a six over midwicket.
Axar Patel’s left-arm spin was also in for rough treatment. With the ball spinning into his leg-side arc, Pooran simply didn’t bat an eyelid in dispatching Axar for successive boundaries towards his favoured region.
But once the fielding restrictions eased, the Indian spinners managed to pull things back considerably. From 57/2 at the seven-over mark, the hosts added only 39 runs in the next seven overs, not even managing a run-a-ball tempo during that middle phase of the innings.
The credit for the slowdown goes to Kuldeep Yadav in particular. Having excelled in the three-match ODI series, the left-arm wrist-spinner was able to continue building on his rhythm and confidence with a frugal spell of 4-0-20-1. Kuldeep’s lone strike was again due to a mistimed sweep as Johnson Charles fell after a stunning catch by a diving Tilak Varma at deep midwicket. More than the wicket though, Kuldeep’s control right through his spell was noteworthy.
His repertoire of deliveries is an asset of course, but the challenge for Kuldeep in recent years has been to hit the right lengths at the right pace. He did that more often than not on Thursday. That Pooran, usually so destructive against spin, was able to score only 11 runs off 15 balls against Kuldeep told its own tale about the match-up.
While the pitches in the Caribbean have aided spin and the Windies batters are not the most skilful, it is still important for Chahal and Kuldeep to capitalise on every opportunity available ahead of this year’s ODI World Cup. With just a maximum of nine ODIs left for India before the 50-over World Cup, displays like these by the wrist-spin duo, even if in a T20I, will certainly do no harm to their prospects.
