Vindicating Team India’s faith in wrist-spin

Chahal & Kuldeep are now the main slow-bowling options

Wristy business: With the Indian team looking for options, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have slotted into the gap left by R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Since the ICC-Champions Trophy in England, the Indian ODI team seems to have turned to wrist-spin. The reason for this is clear from the performances, since June, of front-line slow bowlers, R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja — both finger-spinners.

Ashwin played three games in India’s Champions Trophy campaign, and picked up one wicket for 167 runs while Jadeja picked up four wickets from five matches at 62.25.

The former picked up four wickets from three matches at 18.85 on the West Indies tour while Jadeja went wicketless in the two games he played.

One can only surmise that wrist-spin was one of the options that captain Virat Kohli, coach Ravi Shastri and the selection committee might have considered, leading to the emergence of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

Chahal, who made his his debut on last year’s tour of Zimbabwe, and Kuldeep, who played the Dharamsala Test against Australia before getting into the limited-overs side in the Caribbean this year, have both played 11 ODIs each, and have 35 wickets between them.

“They have definitely grown from the time they made their way into the team,” said Rohit Sharma. “I think there’s been immense improvement in their confidence. They just go out there and do their thing, and are not afraid to make tactical changes. They flight the ball and go after wickets, which is important in this format especially because they bowl in the middle overs.”

On the impact Chahal and Kuldeep have had on the side, Rohit said: “For us as a team, we really rely on those two guys to do the job in the middle overs. And they’ve done exceedingly well in the last series; we saw that. It was pretty evident that whenever the ball was given to them, they came up with tactical plans and got rid of set batsman.

“To get crucial breakthroughs in the middle overs is very important. They’ve done that, and from here on, they’ll keep growing as individuals and as players.

“The best part is that they compliment each other; they share their tactics. We know that the grounds here aren’t so big. But they understand the game. So, in their bowling they’re quite versatile. That’s something that I’ve noticed.”