Yuzvendra Chahal needs to enrich his repertoire of variations: Sourav Ganguly

Yuzendra Chahal, who holds the best bowling figures for India in the shortest format, had a poor show in the 2nd T20I against the Proteas in Centurion. The 27-year-old was smacked for 64 runs from his four overs, in the process conceding the most runs by an Indian bowler in a T20 International.

South African wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen played a pivotal role with his quickfire 69, as his fireworks powered South Africa to a series-levelling 6-wicket victory. Klaasen made Chahal his bunny, hitting him for five sixes on a day when nothing seemed to be going right for the leg-spinner.

Speaking on the same lines, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly opined Chahal needs to come up with more variations and other tricks up his sleeve. The 45-year-old further opined that Virat Kohli as a skipper needs to put in a lot more work if he wishes to play Yuzvendra Chahal as the lone spinner.

Speaking to India Today, Sourav Ganguly said, “Conditions made a bit tougher for Chahal. I think Virat Kohli needs to work a lot more with Chahal if he wants to play him as the lone spinner. He got clobbered in the last few games. He needs to add more variety to his bowling.”

He added, “A bit more flippers, a bit more sliders and not just toss it up all the time. Chahal will learn and at this level, you will be under pressure at times. There will be games where you will get hit and Chahal needs to come back. I think he is capable of doing that.”

Chahal and Yadav together is a lethal combination

Ganguly said he wanted to see Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal bowl together again and believes their spin partnership forms a lethal combination. Ganguly also joked that they seemed to be happy bowling in a pair.

Going by the statistics, the duo has wrecked havoc almost everytime they have played together. In the recently concluded ODI series as well, the spin twins scripted history by claiming an overall 30 wickets, the highest by Indian spinners in a bilateral series.

The series-deciding third T20I will be played at Cape Town on Saturday.