SA vs IND 2018: Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at Yuzvendra Chahal, saying nobody should be bowling no balls

Sunil Gavaskar blamed Team India's "lack of professionalism" for their Johannesburg defeat.

A no ball from Chahal gave Miller a life early on in his innings at Wanderers. (AFP)

Sunil Gavaskar –former Indian skipper and Cricket Pundit, on Sunday, lashed out at wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for bowling no-balls during the fourth One Day International of the six-match series, in which the tourists faced a five-wicket loss to give the Proteas their first win of the series. 

During his spell of 5.3 overs, Chahal overstepped twice with one of them ensuring a life-line to David Miller, who played a key role in his team’s win with a fiery 28-ball 39, and Gavaskar believes that it was a game-changing moment for the hosts, describing the leggie’s act as unprofessional.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, Gavaskar said, “For me, it was that no-ball where David Miller was clean bowled and the way he recovered from it. That, for me, was the turning point Till then, India seemed to be in control, they had also seen the back of AB de Villiers, who was batting well. When Miller was struggling to read Yuzvendra Chahal, India were certainly in the driver’s seat.”

Gavaskar went to further say that modern-day bowlers should not be bowling no balls especial when they have all technology, “I will be perfectly honest. In modern-day cricket, with all the technology available, nobody should be bowling no balls. One can understand bowling a wide, down the leg side because that [wide rule] is a very strict interpretation. There should ideally bowl no wides on the offside also.”

He further added on the same, “Fast bowlers can sometimes overstep. However, because it’s 50-over cricket, because there is a free hit after the no ball, I don’t think fast-bowlers should also be bowling no-balls. They, after all, use a lot of tapes to measure from here to there [run-up distance] and then how does a no-ball come through.”

He also blamed the lack of professionalism from the Indian cricketers for their defeat that ruined their chances of an important fourth win against the Proteas which would have taken closer to a series whitewash. The Wanderers win now means that South Africa can now think of drawing the ODI series with two more games to go. 

Gavaskar signed off by saying, “So clearly, I think there’s a little bit of lack of professionalism there. Maybe a little bit of relaxation after the 3-0 situation and the South Africans took full advantage of it. They batted brilliantly after that, Miller batted brilliantly, [Heinrich] Klaassen was outstanding, [Andile] Phehlukwayo came in and smashed it.”

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 12 Feb, 2018

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