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What's the story?
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar heaped praise on Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, saying that India should never drop Chahal from the XI in limited-overs cricket.
The Background
Chahal who has 91 ODI and 51 T20I wickets to his name made his limited-overs debut during India's tour of Zimbabwe in 2016. Since then, there has been no looking back for the leg-spinner who has gone onto becoming a permanent fixture in India's limited-overs set-up. He has also been a vital cog for his IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) since joining the Bengaluru-based outfit in 2014.
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The 29-year-old who bagged 12 wickets during 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup last played an ODI back in August 2019 against West Indies before featuring in the last two fixtures of the recently-concluded three-match ODI series against New Zealand. Though Chahal played all five T20Is against New Zealand, Kuldeep made the XI ahead of Chahal in the first game at Seddon Park where he was taken to the cleaners (finished with the figures of 2/84) by Kiwi batsmen and was eventually replaced by Chahal for the next two matches.
The heart of the matter
Despite the Men in Blue being whitewashed (3-0), Chahal's bowling was one of the major takeaways for the visitors as the leggie finished with the series as the joint-highest wicket-taker with six wickets. While New Zealand speedster Hamish Bennett scalped six wicets in three matches, the RCB star took as many wickets in the two matches he played. While almost all bowlers suffered a rare setback, the Haryana spinner proved his wicket-taking credentials.
Meanwhile, Shoaib Akhtar heaped praise on Chahal for his exloits with the ball. Speaking on his YouTube channel, the 44-year-old said,
"(Ravindra) Jadeja contains, he gets wickets occasionally, Kuldeep (Yadav) didn’t perform well but (Yuzvendra) Chahal was good. He should never be benched. Chahal has some tricks which can confuse the batsmen. He is a complete leg-spinner. He dominates the batsmen, he is street smart".
The Rawalpindi Express though expressed concern over Chahal's spin partner and left-arm chinamnan bowler Kuldeep Yadav's form. Akhtar further added,
"Kuldeep to me looks be a bit subdued, he is not playing freely. He was never really in the game, that’s a worrying factor for India. Apart from Chahal, nobody looked like picking wickets in the middle over"
What's next?
Though it's a dream of every Indian cricket fan to witness the magic of 'KulCha' together, unfortunately it hasn't been the case for quite sometime. India's next limited-overs assignment will be against South Africa in March (3 ODIs). Let us hope both Chahal and Kuldeep make the XI against the Proteas.
Also read | Yuzvendra Chahal is Harbhajan Singh's No.1 choice for T20I World Cup
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