Sunil Gavaskar compares Chahal and Yadav with Shane Warne

While the Indian team basks in the glory of their maiden series win in the rainbow nation, it’s hard to forget that the chief architect of their victory was the imperative partnership of the two young spin sensations- Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. The two wrist spinners picked up 30 wickets from five matches in the ongoing series, helping India create history in South Africa.

Lauding their efforts, former India skipper and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar heaped praises on the spin twins and said they reminded him of the “artist” Shane Warne the way they set up their victims with a “fearless” approach.

Kuldeep and Chahal continued their sublime form in the fifth ODI at Port Elizabeth, sharing six wickets between them to help India register a 73-run over the hosts. Virat Kohli thereby became the first Indian captain and only the second Asian skipper after Misbah-ul-Haq in 2013 to win a bilateral ODI series in the nation.

Speaking of the spin duo’s combination in the ongoing series Gavaskar said during a post-match analysis show on Sony Ten 1 television, “I have seen some wonderful spinners. Abdul Qadir, for example. He was fantastic as a leg-spinner. Shane Warne was another. I didn’t play against him, but he was an artist. He set batsmen up. I think this is exactly what these two spinners [Kuldeep and Chahal] are trying to do, trying to set batsmen up.”

The 68-year-old added, “Comparisons obviously are odious as guys are from different eras, different generation. But these two guys are two of the most exciting young spinners.”

Kuldeep enters the record books

Kuldeep and Chahal combined to take a tally of 30 in the ongoing series. It is already the highest number of wickets taken by Indian spinners in a bilateral series, going past the tally of 27 Harbhajan Singh and co. picked up during England tour of India in 2006.

The chinaman bowler Kuldeep also now holds the record for the most ODI wickets by a spinner in South Africa in a series after eclipsing Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan, who had picked up 14.