Chahal: 'Dismissing Mathews was my dream ball'
The spinner said he was glad that he could mix the pace with some drift and deceive the batsman (Angelo Mathews) when he would have actually expected the ball to come straight on to him.
Published : Dec 17, 2017 21:40 IST
Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who returned with a three-wicket match-winning haul against Sri Lanka in the final one-dayer here on Sunday night, says his dream ball of the match is when he dismissed Angelo Mathews.
Speaking to media after the match, Chahal said he was glad that he could mix the pace with some drift and deceive the batsman when he would have actually expected the ball to come straight on to him. “That wicket gave me great satisfaction,” he said.
“Yes, I love to try variations in flight, pace and drift to make things difficult for the batsmen on pitches which don’t offer too much turn,” he said.
“Well, I am quite used to bowling in the middle or death overs even after the opposition posts a big score as I am quite used to this in the IPL,” Chahal said.
Questioned whether he and chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav have cemented their places in the Indian team in the absence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, Chahal said it was wrong to make any comparisons with those two spinner who achieved so much for six to seven years at the highest level.
On his playing Test cricket soon, a confident Chahal said he had been doing well in Ranji Trophy and hopes to play Test cricket too one day. “But again I would like to take it series by series and I am really enjoying the year 2017 so far being a member of the winning team,” he said.
For his part, Sri Lankan coach Nic Pothas felt that Sri Lankans were in a pretty strong position by the 28 over but fell short of runs in the final analysis. “I think those two soft dismissals in the 28 over were disappointing and I think we have not learnt as well in ODIs as we did in Test cricket,” he said.
On whether he was surprised by Shreyas Iyer’s batting, Pothas said ‘no’. “He is a very young and exciting batter. I loved the way he batted today with great confidence. This also shows the system in India which produces such players,” he said.