Chahal also revealed that the chess grand-master was his chess idol.
Indian wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was delighted to be a favorite cricketer of his idol and ace Indian chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand.
Speaking on Star Sports Tamil show Mind Masters by MFORE, the leg-spinner has revealed that the five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand was his idol when he played chess.
Noteworthy, Star Sports has recently launched a new series Mind Masters in partnership with MFORE to highlight the importance and necessity of mental strength and conditioning in sports. In the most recent episode, the host and former India cricketer S. Badrinath interacted with Chahal and Anand.
Speaking to Badrinath on the show, Chahal said: “I'm glad Viswanathan Anand Sir chose me as his favorite player, when I used to play chess, he was my idol. I played my first nationals of chess in 1998 and at that time I was playing cricket as well. You can't play both sports at the same time. For chess, you need 10 - 12 hours of training and then 6 - 8 hours for cricket was getting very difficult. So, when I came back from the World Cup, I told my father I will focus only on cricket.”
Comparing chess and cricket, the leg-spinner has pointed out the similarities between the two sports and how chess has helped him to become a better cricketer.
Chahal signed off by saying, “In chess, you require a lot of patience as every match is about 6-7 hours and you're playing sitting at one place without speaking much. Similarly, in cricket you sometimes bowl so well but don't get wickets. So, you have to be patient and keep it in your mind that you are bowling well and you'll probably get wickets in the next spell.”
(With IANS Inputs)