Yuzvendra Chahal still unaware about how he became a cricketer from a chess player
Chahal mentioned that his exposure to chess has helped him in his professional career as a cricketer.
Yuzvendra Chahal, a former chess player, still sometimes does not believe how he turned a professional cricketer in the last 12 years after having successfully continued as a chess player till he was 15. Not only has he donned the Indian shirts for the cricket team but has also for chess in the junior World Cup.
Speaking to My Khel over the phone from National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore on Thursday (October 19), the 27-year old leggie smilingly recalled, “I used to dream of becoming Vishy Anand in future. I used to practice chess almost throughout the day. In Jind, the suburb in Haryana where my residence is, there were not much quality chess players. I used to practice with one or two who were also representing the state and producing performance.”
“Amidst the situation Indian cricket team’s show in 2003 World Cup under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly rekindled me and dragged my passion towards cricket.”
The reflection of the passion resulted in a call for Chahal to represent Haryana in the under-14 national championship. Chahal’s was only 10 years old then. In his journey from chess player to the professional cricketer, Chahal gave credit to his father and then Ranadhir Singh Chowdhury.
Chahal added, “I started playing cricket at a local club in Jind. That time I did not have any goal. Rather the following advice from my father and Ranadhir Singh Chowdhury I tried to concentrate on batting that time. But later on, former Indian international spinner Maninder Singh and Narendra Hirwani created passion for spin bowling.”
Often termed as a “smart bowler”, Chahal mentioned that his exposure to chess has helped him in his professional career as a cricketer. The spinner who has been preparing for the challenge against New Zealand that begins on Sunday said, “Chess helps to improve concentration and focus. Today, while bowling against any difficult batsman I try to find out his weakness and chess helps me to pinpoint the batsman’s weakness. I can recover concentration.”
India will play 3 ODI’s & 3 T20I’s against New Zealand starting from 22nd Oct.
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