My plan was to bowl outside the off stump: Yuzvendra Chahal

Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal bowled an exceptional spell against England on Wednesday and courtesy his heroics, Team India managed to beat England 2-1 in the 3 match T20I series. His figures of 6/25 are the 3rd best by any bowler after Ajanta Mendis’ twin 6 wicket haul. He also became the first Indian bowler to bag a five-wicket haul in the shortest format of the game. Following his match-winning spell, the bowler revealed that he had a specific plan of bowling outside the off stump and he executed it to perfection after a discussion with former captain MS Dhoni and current captain Virat Kohli.

Courtesy his brilliance in the series, Chahal also bagged the Man of the Series Award along with the Man of the Match Award. Following his historic achievement, Yuvraj picked up the little man in his arms just like a baby which reminded Chahal of DDLJ. Courtesy Team India’s dominating performance in the last couple of months, they have made a clean sweep of England across all three formats.

“When Joe Root and Eoin Morgan were going great guns, I planned to bowl to them on the off side after discussing it with Mahi (Dhoni) and Virat bhai, because hitting becomes difficult by maintaining that line,” Chahal said at the post-match press conference.

“When England were bowling, the ball was turning a lot and gripping and also coming off the pitch slowly. Therefore, I planned to bowl fuller to Billings and Jason Roy with the new ball because they are good batsmen. Then I watched Mishy (Mishra) bhai – he was getting turn and varying the pace of the ball, which I adopted. That helped me get wickets,” he said.

He also added how he planned the dismissal of Eoin Morgan with Virat Kohli. “The way Morgan was batting — he could have scored more runs from my over. I had to come up with something special. Kohli and I had planned to bowl on the off-stump. I continued the same plan for the next two overs and it delivered results,” Chahal was quoted as saying by the Hindu.

Chahal who plays for the RCB in IPL said that the Chinnaswamy Stadium feels like a home gorund. “Whenever I come to Bangalore. You may go for runs because it’s a small ground, but at the same time, you have more scope to get wickets,” he said.

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

Kohli who is also the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore understands Chahal’s game very well and singled him out for special praise. “We have lot of spinners available in middle overs, who are wicket-taking bowlers – who are not just run-containing bowlers. That is why I would back someone like Chahal, and that is why in IPL, I play him in most of the games. He never says no to bowl at any situation and that is why he ends up taking more wickets,” Kohli was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Chahal concluded by saying that his aim was to bag at least 3 wickets even if he went for 40 runs. “I have not played that many matches for India, but whenever I play in Bengaluru, I feel it is like my home. I have taken wickets here. I would like to continue with this kind of performance in the upcoming domestic and IPL matches.”