'You cannot have Kuldeep and Chahal as stock bowlers'

While former India leg-spinner V. V. Kumar made note of the attacking instinct of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, Sunil Joshi credited the IPL for their quick rise.

Thirty-three wickets between them at an average of 15.12. A combined economy rate of 4.82. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal had South African batsmen dancing to their wrist spin in the course of a 5-1 ODI series win.

And according to V. V. Kumar, former India leg-spin bowler, "Both are always attacking; never trying to tie down the opposition. That's the secret of their success."

"You cannot have Kuldeep and Chahal as stock bowlers," he added.

Kumar, who took 599 first-class wickets for Tamil Nadu at an average of 19.98, dissected the action of both spinners.

"Chahal bowls the leg-break with over-spin and the top-spinner. He tries to draw the batsman forward with the dip, so the combination of fingers, wrist and arm is working for him," he noted before adding, "What also sets him apart is the turn he gets through his googly. Chahal uses his fourth and fifth finger to produce a well-concealed googly."

As for Kuldeep, Kumar reckons the "ability to bowl from both sides of the wicket", has held him in good stead. "And he has got the natural turn as a left-arm spinner has towards the right-hander," he said.

"He (Kuldeep) is not a very big turner of the ball but beats the batsman with deceptive flight. He's able to hide the dip by imparting revolutions to the ball."

Credit to IPL

Meanwhile, Sunil Joshi, the former India left-arm spinner credited "the amount of first-class games, the India A tours and to top it all off, the IPL" for making Kuldeep and Chahal 'mentally strong'.

"Both have played with and against certain batsmen in the IPL in India where the grounds are small and they've refocused their skill on getting the ball to turn. They've enhanced it by bowling the extra number of deliveries in the nets and during a match," Joshi said.

The 47-year-old, who's also a spin bowling consultant to the Bangladesh team, lauded Captain Kohli and the team management for "reposing faith in the duo and giving them the liberty to express themselves."

Asked if this kind of spin dominance in tandem will diminish future chances for R. Ashwin and Jadeja, Joshi said, "Healthy competition is always good. If India is looking at the 2019 World Cup, T20 World Cup or the Champions Trophy, it will surely bear in mind these four spinners - Chahal, Kuldeep, Ashwin as well as Jadeja."