Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav – or the “KulCha” of Indian cricket may not be in the fray of things as far as T20Is are concerned, but experts feel that their experience will be much needed in the T20 World Cup next year.
But Chahal and Kuldeep, who had sent the cricketing realm in a frenzy with their consistent performances since they started playing for the Men in Blue, have lost their touch and have not been included in two successive T20I series – first against West Indies, and then for the series against South Africa.
Skipper Virat Kohli added before the first T20I against the Proteas that their inability to pitch in with the bat has forced the management to favour Rahul Chahar and Washinton Sundar to increase the batting depth in the side.
However, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra believes that the move could backfire.
“The idea is that if you have depth in batting, then you bat a certain way. You won’t bat conservatively if you have that kind of depth. That is what England did. They changed the template completely. They focused on batting deep as they wanted to score 400 (in ODIs) and they achieved it many times,” Chopra told PTI.
“It looks India is wanting to take the same aggressive approach in T20Is, there is nothing wrong in that. Now, they need to start showing the intent of scoring 220 consistently.”
“Batting till 8, 9 and 10 is ambitious but if you are trying to score 220 it is fine,” he explained.
The commentator added that as the side has now compromised on its wicket-taking abilities by playing bowlers who can bat, the onus should be on the men with the willow to score more runs to give the bowlers a high score to defend.
However, he feels that Chahal, at least, will be back in the T20I squad sooner than later.
“Chahal will be back. Rahul Chahar is more of a bowler and Washington Sundar’s batting at number 8 may not be needed anyway,” Chopra added.
Former skipper Sunil Joshi, on the other hand, welcomed the move to play more youngsters, but urged the management to be clear with them about their roles.
“I would suggest that Kuldeep and Chahal should go back to domestic cricket when they are not on national duty. Finger spinner or wrist spinner is not the question here. It is about having the tactics to outclass the batsman besides technique and temperament,” Joshi told PTI.
“Let’s see how the young spinners do and ample opportunities should be given to them. But at the same time, if Chahal and Kuldeep are playing only one format, it could disturb their rhythm. White ball cricket is all about rhythm.”
“The conditions will be different in Australia for the World T20 with bigger grounds. Overspin will come in handy. All the spinners who are in the hunt should be told about their roles clearly else it might cause confusion in their minds,” Joshi added.