India should continue with Kuldeep and Chahal for the rest of the matches: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh feels Team India should persist with Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal for the rest of the series against Australia. The wrist spinners have wreaked havoc in the opposition camp by picking 13 wickets in three matches of the series so far. While the leg-spinner has made the dangerous Glenn Maxwell his bunny, the chinaman picked up a sensational hat-trick at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Both have spun a web around the Australian batsmen and have picked wickets at crucial times despite going for runs. Credit has to be given to the skipper Virat Kohli who has shown immense confidence in them which was on display in Indore when he persisted with Kuldeep from one end even when he was going at more than 7 runs per over. The duo bowling in tandem is a nightmare for any batting line up as they seem to be picking a wicket every over thanks to their variations.

Both are wicket-taking and fearless bowlers

Bhajji feels that there has long been a crying need for the change in India’s spin bowling resources. He said that the spinners have lacked bite in the last couple of years in limited overs format and it only became evident in Champions Trophy earlier this year.

“I thought in the Champions trophy we were looking not to take wickets but to complete the quota. If you begin to think that let me get away and finish the overs, I want to bowl to a lefty not righty, etc. there will be limited options for the team and the team has to suffer. That’s what happened in the Champions trophy,” he was speaking to Aajtak’s youtube platform, Sportstak.

“It’s not just the Champions trophy. We were defending the trophy and we realised we are not getting wickets. But even before that when teams came to India for the past two-three years and scored 325-350 against us, we did not do as well as we could have. We were chasing down a lot of totals, so we overlooked that. When the spinners get wickets in the middle overs, the opposition does not get runs. In the past two years between 20 to 45th overs, we haven’t got many wickets. That’s why partnerships developed,” he added.

The 37-year-old Harbhajan was all praise of Chahal and Kuldeep as the duo is not afraid of going for runs in quest of wickets. “Both are wicket taking, fearless and flight the ball. I see Kuldeep enticing the batsmen in ODI’s. So very well done to him,” he said. He also feels that there is no need of rotation in spin department and they should play in both the remaining matches of the 5-match series.

“The two wrist spinners should stay. They are young. The more they play, the better they will get. If you will make them sit out and bring in others then somewhere along the line they will start thinking, let me cement my place first or if I should think before doing something. When you are in good rhythm, you should play more and more. According to me the two should play all the games; whether ODIs or T20Is.  And why not Test matches in the future, if opportunity arises,” the Indian off-spinner concluded.