India wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been struggling with his rhythm lately. He was once India’s first-choice spinner in white-ball cricket but has now fallen behind in the pecking order.
During the recently held limited-overs series against New Zealand, Chahal played only two games as the Men in Blue preferred to go with Kuldeep Yadav as the lead spinner. The decision turned out to be right with Kuldeep claiming wickets in almost every match.
Since spin all-rounders like Akshar Patel and Washington Sundar are also performing well, Chahal might struggle to find a place in India’s squad going forward.
Amid his struggles, former India selector Sunil Joshi has suggested Chahal to request the team management to allow him to play domestic cricket.
"Over a period any bowler will go through that phase. Chahal is in that phase. Someone like Chahal, who is not able to get game time in the middle, probably should request the team management to go and play domestic cricket. Match time is very important for him to get back into form. That should be the ideal preparation for Chahal," Joshi told ESPNCricinfo.
"He was an attacking spinner. Everyone gets a little cushioning - okay, theek hai, I've done well now, let me relax a bit. Suddenly by the time you realise that, the pressure is on you."
According to Joshi, Chahal needs to work on his follow-through and release.
"He can really look to finish his follow-through because at times he just pushes the ball [without imparting spin]. When you slow your arm, automatically there are less revolutions on the ball and it's much easier for a batsman to pick him up. Why any spinner will get predictable is because the batsman will know that: "Okay, he's doing only this [releasing the ball without spin], or probably he will go outside the off stump, so if I leave that ball, he will again come back into the stumps [line]" - which is the batsman's strength.
"Chahal needs to focus more on his follow-through, hitting the right length, which is the fourth-stump line, putting more effort into his arm speed, and spinning the ball. Most important is spinning the ball. At times I have seen in the last few series, he really got hit because he was pushing the ball - the seam revolutions were flatter, there was no over spin. For any finger spinner, the wrist has to move over the top of the seam, and if it goes sideways, then the spinner will be undercutting the ball," he stated.
Citing the example of Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi said whenever the great leg-spinner bowled a googly, it pitched on the fourth-stump line.
"Ideally, every ball should be on the fourth-stump line. Most of the googlies he bowls are from the middle stump. You can't bowl a googly from the middle stump. Where did Anil [Kumble] bowl his googlies from? Fifth stump. That is where you drag a batsman to get through the bat-pad gap. You have seen how many times Virat Kohli get out to a legspinner in the last so many IPLs? Did he get out [to a googly] from a middle-stump line? No. Fifth-stump line," he remarked.