Kuldeep Yadav made an entry into India XI in quite a stormy manner. It was the fourth Test against Australia in Dharamsala. Skipper Virat Kohli nursed an injured shoulder. The young left arm wrist spinner from Uttar Pradesh was chosen to replace the skipper in a move backed by the then coach Anil Kumble and not favoured by the Indian skipper. That was end of March, earlier this year.
Come September, six months since that Test who would have thought that Yadav and another leg spinning youngster Yuzvendra Chahal would be skipper Kohli's chief weapons of attack in the one-day series against Australia? Three ODIs later, the duo have shown they are very much the life of the the party like seasoned revellers. They foxed and flummoxed the Aussie batsmen—Chahal with his googly and Yadav with his ability to turn the ball both ways. Off spinner Harbhajan Singh described the duo wrist spinners as “having the x-factor required at the highest level.”
In a TV programme, Singh said, “Both also bowl at different pace through the air. Kuldeep is a bit slower, while Chahal bowls a lower trajectory with slightly more pace in his deliveries. They complement each other well.”
What were the odds of two wrist spinners finding a place in the playing eleven of any Indian skipper in the shorter format. Indian skippers have traditionally banked more on their off spin options than the leg spin ones, barring the period where Kumble was the skipper's choice, and even that didn't come easily. It was a feat then that after more than four decades since India started playing ODI cricket, a pair of specialist wrist spinners got to bowl together for a first time in a match in the fifth ODI in Sri Lanka. Rather than this being a one-off, the national selectors and skipper Kohli decided to try the duo out against the stronger Australian side at home. The duo have not allowed the team management to miss the services of regular spin bowlers Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as yet. Former India player V.V.S. Laxman too has been very bullish on the prospect of two wrist spinners bowling in tandem for India, giving the team the much needed variety and attacking options.
For the young Yadav, Wednesday night was indeed a night to remember as he became the first Indian spinner and only the third Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in ODIs. First he got Mathew Wade chopping one onto the stumps, then trapped Ashton Agar leg before. He then bowled what former cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar described as the perfect hat trick ball—a wrong un'. What has caught the attention of everybody is that in Chahal and Yadav's bowling there appear no rough edges to iron out—they have come armed with their talent, battle ready.
Chahal has taken 3/50 in Chennai and 2-34 in Kolkata ODIs—the quiet craftsman to Kuldeep's expansive talent. He has troubled batsmen with his legbreaks that turn sharply, beating Maxwell in the air in Kolkata, drawing him out of the crease only to have Dhoni stump him without any hesitation. The bowler from Jind, Haryana, who also plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore, attributes Kohli's attacking captaincy for bring out his attacking best on the field.
Even as Australian skipper Steven Smith's team—a mix of inexperienced and veterans—tries to come to terms with conditions as well as the new spin attack unleashed on them, Yadav and Chahal have been the nemesis of the more experienced batsmen Warner and Maxwell respectively. In his simple way, Yadav, with no trace of being boastful, stated on the eve of the Kolkata ODI, “I guess he feels a lot of pressure while batting against me and that makes me think I can get him out anytime.”
Speaking about bowling with Chahal, Yadav said “Its a rare instance (two wrist spinners bowling together), In junior cricket too, I never had another wrist spinner operating from the other end. We are both attacking bowlers and thus have more chance of taking wickets.”
The World Cup 2019 in England is still too far away to know who of the five spinners—if you put Axar Patel too in the mix—will make Skipper Kohli's cut. But what their advent has done is spice up things in the bowling department.
