Yuzvendra Chahal said he understood the importance of getting back to bowling more googlies when he watched and learned from mistakes from the disastrous South Africa tour’s limited-overs ODI leg. Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal revealed that captain Rohit Sharma’s inputs during their training sessions made him think about making some minor changes to his bowling style in the home series against the West Indies.
Speaking after picking up a match-winning 4-wicket haul in the first ODI, Yuzvendra Chahal said Rohit Sharma made him understand that googlies make his leg-spin more effective. Yuzvendra Chahal’s 4/49, Washington Sundar’s 3/30 and captain Rohit Sharma’s quick-fire 60 helped India beat the West Indies by six wickets in the series opener
Yuzvendra Chahal Reckons Googly Is Very Important For A Leg Spinner And He Missed Bowling Them In South Africa’s Disastrous ODI Matches
It was a role reversal for Rohit Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal as the skipper interviewed the Player of the Match after India’s emphatic 6-wicket win in their 1000th ODI in Ahmedabad. Rohit Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal spoke about the art of leg-spin bowling and facing ups and downs in one’s career.
Rohit Sharma said he was able to see some notable changes in Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling style in the first ODI as the leg-spinner, who has been criticized for not being attacking enough, picked up 2 wickets, including that of West Indies captain Kieron Pollard, in his first over.
Yuzvendra Chahal was India’s best performer with the ball picking up four wickets in the 1st ODI. The leg spinner put West Indies reeling at 78/6 in 21.5 overs by dismissing Sharmarh Brooks and Kieron Pollard in successive deliveries. He also accounted for the wickets of Alzarri Joseph and Nicholas Pooran.
“You had told me before the match and even I thought I missed this during the South Africa tour — I was not bowling a lot of googlies. It was in my mind and when a hard-hitter sees the ball in the slot and decides that he will go for the big shot, I have a weapon. Googly is very important for a leg-spinner,” Yuzvendra Chahal told in a video interaction with Rohit Sharma for the BCCI.
“You told me that the more googlies I bowl, my leg-spin will become more effective. I keep bowling them to you at the nets and then I realised that maybe I should try a bit more of these in the matches,” he added.
“I wanted to mix it up (1n the 1st ODI). And like we planned when Kieron Pollard came in, you told me to bowl it a bit fuller. I knew that if the length was not right, there were 80 percent chances of him hitting me for a six.”
Rohit Sharma brought Yuzvendra Chahal into the attack only in the 20th over in the first ODI and the leg-spinner delivered big time, picking up 3 quick wickets in the middle over to break the back of the West Indies bowling unit.
During his spell, Yuzvendra Chahal mixed his variation — the googly — well and got the big wicket of Kieron Pollard with a googly to the Mumbai Indians star in the very first delivery he faced. The senior leg-spinner, who has struggled to retain his place in the limited-overs sides in the recent past, also became the 2nd fastest spinner from India to get 100 ODI wickets during the first ODI on Sunday.
Jason Holder and Fabian Allen added 78 runs for the eighth wicket partnership and helped the visitors post a target of 177 runs. Skipper Rohit Sharma scored 60 runs off 51 balls to give India a sold start with Ishan Kishan, while Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda remained unbeaten on 34 and 26 runs respectively to see Indian win in their 1000th ODI match.
Rohit Sharma Reckons Yuzvendra Chahal An Important Player And Should Play With That Mindset
Rohit Sharma told Yuzvendra Chahal that he is an important player for the Indian white-ball side and he should also believe in the same whenever he steps onto the field.
“You are a very important player. I would tell you to play with that mindset. There will be ups and downs but keeping the mindset at the right place is very important,” Rohit told Chahal.
Yuzvendra Chahal managed to pick up only 2 wickets in 3 matches in South Africa and gave away 179 runs in 29 overs. However, the leg-spinner seems to have found his mojo back even as India begin their road to the 2022 T20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup in 2023.