With Kuldeep and Chahal doing well, we have lot of options for 2019 WC: Virat Kohli

India once again got the better of the visitors, as the home team thrashed Australia by 50 runs in the 2nd ODI at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Indian skipper Virat Kohli was all praise for the bowlers, especially the duo- Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep and Chahal has shared 10 wickets between them in the two ODIs of the ongoing series so far.

Kuldeep bagged the first hat-trick of his career, becoming only the third Indian to achieve this feat in ODIs after former Indian skipper Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma. Kuldeep achieved the feat in the 32nd over of the Australian innings. Kohli has said that the competition is on, as both the spinners have done well, making it competitive for all four- Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep and Chahal.

Kuldeep bags a hat-trick

Kuldeep first picked up the wicket of Australian wicket-keeper Matthew Wade, who tried to cut the ball fine but it got back and castled the stumps. He then went on to trap Ashton Agar LBW and picked up Pat Cummins, next ball. Cummins failed to pick Kuldeep’s googly and ended up edging one to the keeper.

In the post-match presentation, Kohli said “The team now had a lot of options, and all bases were covered. They are outstanding, they are two young guys bowling with a lot of heart, getting us those breakthroughs against a top quality side… I think it speaks volumes about their character. Looking at the World Cup in a couple of years time, that really augurs well for us, how the team is shaping up. It’s a good balance of bowling and batting.”

“We have not only Hardik (Pandya) as an all-rounder, now we have a couple of spinning allrounders as well in (Ravindra) Jadeja and Axar (Patel). So we have a lot of options, plus we have all our bases covered at the moment” he added.