“Shane Warne!”

Ask any young leg-spinner going around, and the Australian legend will figure atleast once in the conversation. It was no surprise thus, when Yuzvendra Chahal took his name when asked about the source of his inspiration.

The next question was obviously simple. Have you met him yet? “Yes, but it was a long time ago in Jaipur when I had gone for trials in the early years of the Indian Premier League. I managed to speak with him for only two minutes,” he replied, in a freewheeling conversation in the build-up to the 2017 IPL season.

There isn’t much doubt that a future conversation with Warne will be much longer. It might even bear shades of the chat Kuldeep Yadav had with the former cricketer in Pune, and then used some of the knowledge to bowl against Australia in Dharamsala. Chahal will have his own points to put across, and not just because he is a different ‘leg spin’ bowler. While Yadav has made an initial foray in the longer format, it is in the shortest version that Chahal has found his international calling.

The first foray happened last year when India toured Zimbabwe on a routine ‘B-team outing’. It was in keeping with IPL results: Chahal had returned 21 wickets in 2016 and another 23 in 2015, driving home the simple fact that he was Royal Challenger Bangalore’s lead spinner, nay, bowler. He then played all six matches on that Zimbabwean tour, picking six wickets in the three ODIS and three in the three T20Is. Was it enough to merit a recall or had he done just enough to stay on the fringes?

The long 2016-17 season has been one of departure-from-norm for India. They played 17 Tests, 13 of them at home, and the watchword was rotation of the bowling options even before the first series in West Indies got underway. The fast bowlers were rotated enough, within the Test structure itself, but India couldn’t do without either R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja. This is where the ODI/T20 series against New Zealand and England served as opportunities, for resting them both and picking fringe bowlers like Chahal.

“The dream has always been to play for India. So, it was great to represent my country in Zimbabwe. However, that wasn’t a full strength Indian team. Hence, getting picked for the England series was a massive boost for me. They are a much stronger opposition and it was a great opportunity to test my skills against quality batsmen. It was a reward for whatever I have achieved in domestic cricket,” the spinner said, recalling his second call-up to the Indian team in January.

There is another important pointer to note in Chahal’s rise. It has again got to do with that rotation bit, but involves another senior leg spinner. Amit Mishra finished the New Zealand ODIs on a high, with a match-winning performance in Visakhapatnam, in October. A few weeks later though, he was completely off the paces in Rajkot against England, and thus dropped for the second Test (in Vizag again).

Now, Mishra never found enough favour with former skipper MS Dhoni, and it is indeed possible that his poor outing in Rajkot turned Virat Kohli’s attention away from him as well. Jayant Yadav replaced him in Tests, while Chahal was included in the T20 squad as Kohli assumed captaincy in the shorter formats too. As the first T20I versus England in Kanpur came closer, the question remained: two leg-spinners in the playing eleven?

Chahal has been superb for RCB. IPL/Sportzpics

As it happened, Chahal was picked ahead of Mishra for that first match. “I wasn’t sure I would be picked, because Amit bhai has tons of experience at the international level. He is a senior bowler. At the same time, my relationship with Kohli goes back to the Indian Premier League. I was expecting to play, maybe not ahead of a senior bowler like him, but I was quietly confident of getting selected. This was because the captain knows very well what sort of a spinner I am, especially in T20 cricket,” said Chahal.

The phrase ‘my relationship with Kohli’ is intriguing enough. For a second time in the conversation, you just want to sit back and let him expand on his answer.

“The captain has always been a friend and guide for me, both on and off the field. Through our time together at Royal Challengers Bangalore, we have come to understand what we want from each other – what he wants from a bowler as captain, and what I want from him as a leg-spinner. I try to take as much advice from his as possible, because he likes to constantly react to the situation. At the same time, he has always backed my instinct as a bowler. I want to take wickets, and I don’t mind going for runs. That’s what leg spinners do. So, with Virat bhai, I always get the fields I want,” Chahal explained.

“For example, in the IPL, Virat bhai often asks me to bowl with the new ball, whether we are bowling first or defending a total,” he went on, without a breather. “I think it shows the confidence he has in me. I had only occasionally bowled in the nets with the new ball, not too much. Bowling with it in the match was obviously a new experience, but I came to terms with it. I use variations in pace, which is my strength. It is the required in this format to adapt to situations. So, when he asked me to bowl with the new ball against England, I had already had that experience, and there was no pressure on me.”

IPL lessons

It underlines the importance of the IPL in the life of someone like Chahal. Without this stellar tournament, what were the odds that Indian cricket would have embraced him in this manner? It is a pivotal stage for hundreds like this youngster from Haryana, who otherwise would have been lost in the vast wilderness of domestic cricket. It prepares these raw cricketers so that they can step onto the international arena as finished products, delivering at pivotal moments, like Chahal did in that third T20I at Bengaluru, picking up a record 6-25.

“I picked up six wickets when it is rare to pick five in a T20 match. It was unreal and took some time to sink in,” he said, reflecting on his moment of glory.

“The IPL has been the turning point in my life. There is no doubt about it. Particularly the last three years that I have spent with RCB in this tournament have been unparalleled in my career. I have shared the dressing room with the likes of Virat, Daniel Vettori, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. Every single day you get to learn something new. It gives young cricketers an equal opportunity to shine on the big stake because everyone is watching you. I have learnt so much and it has completely changed my game,” Chahal signed off.