I am a bit heavier than the cricket ball: Yuzvendra Chahal

In a key clash with series on the line, the Men in Blue took on the Brits at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Both the teams have equal firepower in the shorter formats and winning the first T20I and being at inching distance in the second England had certainly shown Team India it won’t be as easy for them to walk away with a win here like they did in the Tests or ODIs. But on the night after 200 runs were posted on the scoreboard a young leg-spinner rose to the occasions to register record figures and Yuzvendra Chahal with that bagged the Man of the Match and Man of the Series award as well.

When skipper Virat Kohli handed him the ball it wasn’t an ideal situation for a spinner. He was opening the bowling alongside Ashish Nehra with Jason Roy and Sam Billings two aggressive batsmen at the crease. He stuck to his task, assessed his strengths and had an immediate reward as he dismissed Billings on the third ball of his first. He went on to send six more England batsmen back to the pavilion and registered his personal best and the best figures by an Indian bowler in T20Is.

Yuvraj Singh caught up with the 26-year-old after the game for a fun interview with Chahal for bcci.tv and here is what transpired. Yuzvendra Chahal, what is heavier, the ball or you? “I am a little heavier than the ball.”

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You bowled exceptionally well. Usually, a spinner who bowls really well in a T20 manages to get 3 or 4 wickets you managed 6, what would you like to say about that. “It felt really good, this is my first five-wicket haul. I didn’t have one in the IPL either. It felt good especially since this is also my home ground (he plays IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore) I had this feeling that I was playing in front of my family so it was a nice feeling.”

There were two set batsmen at the crease when you came into the attack. What were you thinking in terms of the line you should be bowling since at that stage if one over would have gone the other way it would have changed the outcome of the game. “I was confident since I had bowled in such a situation in the IPL, I wanted to bowl my best deliveries and when I was bowling to Root (Joe Root) and Morgan (Eoin Morgan) the plan was to bowl outside the off-stump.”

6 wickets in a T20I is a huge achievement how are you feeling. “I am feeling really good especially because when I last played on the Zimbabwe tour we weren’t playing the full strength squad, I have made it to the full-fledged team for the very first time, so it feels really good.”

How did you feel when I picked you up in my arms. “It was a nice feeling, something similar to DDLJ (a popular Bollywood movie)”

Watch the interview here: