Virat Kohli always motivates you even if you are not doing well: Yuzvendra Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal, the Indian leg-spinner has credited Virat Kohli, the Indian captain of all three formats for being a motivator and backing him in critical stages. The leg-spinner bagged five wickets in the four games he played during the 5-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka after returning to the ODI squad after a gap of one year.

Chahal represents the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) which is also led by Virat Kohli. The 27-year-old spoke about how his captain motivates whenever he faced tough times on the field. He picked up four wickets in first three ODIs before sidelined from the 4th ODI for Kuldeep Yadav. He returned to the XI for the final ODI in place of Axar Patel as India registered the first ever instance of playing two specialist wrist spinners in an ODI XI.

“Virat Kohli always remains positive on the ground, always confident about his decisions. He will always motivate you even if you are giving runs or if you are not doing well,” Yuzvendra Chahal told India TV in an exclusive chat.

Sri Lanka tour is very important for me: Chahal

Chahal, who is in the mix of Indian T20I squad since his debut in June 2016 on Zimbabwe tour, hasn’t played any ODI cricket after the debut series. He became the first Indian to take a 6-wicket haul in T20Is during the England series in February. His recent performances in the limited-over matches for India A and in the domestic circuit earned him a spot in the ODI team.

“Sri Lanka tour is very important for me because I came back after one year in the ODI team and we won 5-0. I can’t express my feeling how happy I am to be a part of this team,” said Chahal.

“Sri Lankan pitches are very slow. Before I came here, I bowled on the similar kind of wickets in South Africa and I performed well there. So, I was confident about myself and obviously, it was a great feeling if you take wickets for your team and help the team to win wearing the India jersey. It is a great feeling, you can’t express it in words,” he added.