Kuldeep: ‘At times, I feel this is better than India’

Indian spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal say how wickets in South Africa have been assisting them in the ODI series.

Published : Feb 05, 2018 14:51 IST , Chennai

 Indian spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal (left) and Kuldeep Yadav seem to be in prime form in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa.
Indian spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal (left) and Kuldeep Yadav seem to be in prime form in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa.
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Indian spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal (left) and Kuldeep Yadav seem to be in prime form in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa.

 

Indian spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav seem to be in prime form in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa. The wrist spinners shared 13 wickets between them in the first two games with Chahal taking a fifer (5/22) in the second ODI at Centurion on Sunday.

Read: Tough playing against two wrist spinners, says Proteas’ batting coach

The duo, in a light-hearted interview to bcci.tv conducted by none other than team-mate Bhuvneshwar Kumar, threw light on their chemistry. “We enjoy each other’s success. Whoever bowls first, briefs the other person on the wicket and the batsman. We help each other plan and discuss who could we bowl googlies to,” said Chahal.

Kuldeep found the South African pitches “better” for the spinners. “We knew that the fast wickets would assist spinners. The pitch has bounce and the ball reaches the batsman faster. He won’t have much time to go on the backfoot. At times, I feel this is better than India,” he reasoned, adding he wasn’t satisfied with the delivery which got him the wicket of Aiden Markram. “It was a little short. It is not necessary that good balls will always fetch you wickets. You can get a wicket from a poor delivery as well. The runs had dried, so my plan was to bowl wicket-to-wicket and not try anything new.”

Kohli: ‘Chahal, Yadav can get turn on any surface’

On his second five-wicket haul in limited-overs, the first being against England (6/25) in a T20 game, Chahal added, “It feels good because it came against South Africa in an overseas tour. It is a crucial series. Since it is my first in ODI cricket, it will remain special.”

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From left: Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal after the chat session.
 

Kuldeep also pointed the nuances of bowling in international matches. “If you read the batsman well, you will have the benefit. The variations will come handy if you mix it well. Our speciality has been breakthroughs in middle overs. But it is not that we are always bowling variations. There have been times when we have bowled normal deliveries because that worked at that time,” he said.

Chahal added to that, saying, “I usually bowl outside the off-stump, which invites a batsman to step out.”

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