My job is to perform, and it's up to the selectors: Yuzvendra Chahal

The journey of the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal from Haryana has been nothing short of a spectacle, with his Indian Premier League (IPL) career starting with the franchise Mumbai Indians. After spending his time in the metro city, the leggie shifted to another with Royal Challengers Bangalore snapping him up in the auctions.

In the year 2014, the leggie picked up 14 wickets and continued to back it up with 21 more in the next edition of the tournament. Chahal carried on the momentum with 21 wickets in the 2016 edition where the Challengers finished as runner’s up. It was a short journey from there on for the leggie, who switched to the national colours to represent the country in the shortest format.

He was awarded the Indian cap, in the second string side led by former skipper MS Dhoni where he picked up six wickets for the team. His performance was immediately awarded, with the leggie representing the full-fledged team against England, where he picked up two wickets in the first game before following it up with 6/25 in the third T20.

The leggie, is now part of the India A squad, in the tri-nation series between Australia ‘A’, South Africa ‘A’ and India ‘A’. Virat Kohli mentioned the importance of ‘A’ team, where he said that the selectors would keep an eye on the team.

2019 World Cup and India ‘A’ tour:

The Royalchallengers.com interviewed Chahal, where he was asked about his thoughts on creating a place for himself in the 2019 World Cup squad.

“No I’m not focussing on the 2019 World Cup. I’m just focussing on this India ‘A’ tour. I always prefer to go step by step. But obviously if I make it to the 2019 World Cup squad, it’ll be a big achievement for me in my life. But I’m focussing more on this India ‘A’ tour as of now,” Chahal said.

With the presence of three able spinners in the Indian team, would this factor motivate the leggie to perform better for a spot, to which he replied, “For me yes, I’ve performed well against England (T20I series, 2017). There’s still hope for me to get back into the senior team and right now I am just aiming to work even more hard.”

Yuzi said, “Leg spinners obviously are wicket taking bowlers for a captain.” while commenting on the ability and effectiveness of the leggie. We’ve (Leg spinners) got more variations when compared to other bowlers and being wrist spinners, we are bound to get a little extra turn even on flat wickets when compared to a slow left arm or off-spinners.”

Caribbean disappointment and flat pitches

India selectors went for experience over experiment in the 2017 Champions Trophy then Kuldeep Yadav got a chance in the subsequent Caribbean tour ahead of other spinners, did it hurt Chahal?

“No, nothing like that. My job is to perform and it’s up to the selectors (to pick teams). But I don’t think that much.It’s okay, there are others who’ve come and performed. I’ve been picked for India ‘A’ and now this is my good chance to perform and get back into the senior team,” he stated.

A highly optimistic Chahal has set his eyes on a national comeback. What is his next immediate goal? “As I told you, my total focus is to perform well in the India ‘A’ tour and as soon as possible, grab my chance to play again for the Indian national side,” he concluded.