"I ask them whether it's easy to sweep or reverse sweep this length" - Yuzvendra Chahal explains his preparation for bowling in England
Yuzvendra Chahal has revealed how he prepares to bowl in English conditions. The leg-spinner said that he simulates different fields and scenarios during net sessions and asks his teammates to determine whether his lengths are sweep-able or not.
Most of England's batters are adroit with both conventional and reverse sweeps. As these shots counter turn easily by allowing the batter to attack the ball on the volley, the spinner's length becomes his most important defense.
Chahal has used it brilliantly in the three-match T20I series against England so far, bowling spells of 2/32 and 2/10 in India's wins in the first two many matches. He spoke about his preparations during a chat with teammate Bhuvneshwar Kumar after the second game on BCCI's 'Chahal TV', saying:
"Whenever I bowl in the nets, I tell the batters that this is my field or that I am bowling in the powerplay or something and I regularly ask them whether it's easy to sweep or reverse-sweep this length which helps me a lot."
A match-winning spell 💪
Swinging the ball from the word - GO 👌
A legendary visitor to the game 🙌
A Chahal TV special with @BhuviOfficial as he chats up with @yuzi_chahal after #TeamIndia's 2nd #ENGvIND T20I win👍👍 - by @RajalArora
Full video 👇
bit.ly/3nNgywF https://t.co/AiSWjaqkaO
Interestingly, his second wicket on Saturday came despite him completely missing his length. He bowled a leg-stump full-toss to Dawid Malan and the right-hander, perhaps prempting it, reverse swept it straight to backward point.
"I should ball it a bit slow" - Yuzvendra Chahal on how he got Harry Brook out
Great game for us and glad to have sealed the series here at Edgbaston. Onto the final one now 🇮🇳 https://t.co/BK6vGBJ9sC
Giving an insight into his plans behind dismissing Harry Brook, Chahal said he had observed that the youngster likes to step-out. So bowled him a loopy leg-spinning delivery on the stumps, which Brook mis-timed straight to long-on.
The leggie said:
"I find it tougher here than South Africa or Australia because here the batters play both reverse and normal sweeps. My plan is always to stick to my strength which is varying the pace. When I bowled to Brook in the first match I felt he loves to play over covers so I bowled a lot of googlies.
"Today, after being hit for a straight four on a fuller ball, I bowled a leg-spinner. My mindset was that he likes to step out a lot, so I should ball it a bit slow. Then the wind heped too and he got out at long-on."
India won the second game by 49 runs, winning the series with one match to go. The dead-rubber will kick off at 7pm IST on Sunday.
Also Read: "Rohit took that review in fear" - Bhuvneshwar Kumar trolls Yuzvendra Chahal after 2nd IND vs ENG T20I