Declining quality of India's spin bowling "alarming": VVS Laxman
Batting legend VVS Laxman has flagged a 'steady decline' in the quality of India's spinners in limited-overs cricket. Laxman on Wednesday said the leg-spinner pair of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have lost their edge in international cricket and it's high time the management looks for other options.
Once touted as a silver bullet for India's middle-overs bowling woes, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have been off-color in all the recent bilateral series. While the leggie was dropped after he failed to make an impact in the T20Is against England, the chinaman played 2 ODIs but returned wicketless.
Writing in his column for the Times of India, VVS Laxman called for the induction of a 6th bowling option. Referring to Chahal and Yadav, he further remarked that "lack of skillsets" are uncovered in the shortest format.
"With three World Cups lined up over the next two and a half years, there is a pressing need to ensure the presence of a sixth bowling option at all times. More alarming is the steady decline in the quality of spin bowling in the 50-over format, specifically. Lack of skillsets will be exposed more damningly in this variant.
"Yuzvendra Chahal seems to have lost the confidence of the team management and Kuldeep Yadav has been out of sorts for a while. With the 50-over World Cup more than two years away, it is imperative that the net is cast far and wide and personnel capable of taking wickets in the middle overs identified and persisted with so that they grow into their roles by the time of the mega event," said VVS Laxman.
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Yuzvendra Chahal is the lynchpin of his IPL side, Royal Challengers Bangalore's bowling attack. Kuldeep Yadav hardly got any game time in IPL 2020 and it could be the same this year if he fails to grab limited opportunities.
With tweakers like Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Rahul Tewatia breathing down their necks, the IPL 2021 might be the final opportunity for Yadav and Chahal to prove their credentials.
The emergence of young guns and newcomers augurs well for the future: VVS Laxman
Reviewing India's 2020-21 international season, which culminated in a 2-1 ODI series win against England, VVS Laxman called the Test triumph in Australia the 'highlight'. He attributed the historic series win to the contributions of youngsters like Shubman Gill and Washington Sundar, adding that their emergence bodes well for Indian cricket.
"The highlight of the season has to be the Test series win in Australia. To me, that will remain India's greatest Test series triumph. To bounce back the way they did, especially after the Adelaide meltdown and without their captain for the last three Tests against a full-strength Australian side in their own backyard was a little short of extraordinary. Significantly, the result was fashioned by a host of young guns and newcomers, which augurs well for the future," signed off VVS Laxman.