Yuzvendra Chahal was the lone bright spot in India’s bowling unit in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand.
Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has showered rich praise on leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, saying he should never warm the bench while being a part of India’s white-ball squad.
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Chahal was the lone warrior with the ball for India during the recently held ODI series against New Zealand in which the Men in Blue coped a 3-0 whitewash. He featured in two ODIs and finished the series with six scalps.
“(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,” said Shoaib Akhtar on his YouTube channel.
Chahal appeared in all five T20Is against New Zealand but he was surprisingly left out from the first ODI at the expense of Kuldeep Yadav. However, the decision backfired as Kuldeep conceded 84 runs in his 10 overs and India failed to defend a mammoth 347 in the series opener.
Subsequently, Chahal was brought back for the last two ODIs and he recorded the bowling figures of 3/58 and 3/47 in Auckland and Mount Maunganui respectively.
The Rawalpindi Express also expressed concerns over Kuldeep’s form lately.
“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,” Akhtar commented.