Sachin Tendulkar is confident that Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal will play a major role in India’s performance in overseas conditions as the cricket world is ‘yet to figure out’ a method to counter the two young wrist spinners.
“When it comes to batting, we speak about the number of runs scored but we are also winning matches because during those middle overs where the two wrist spinners (Kuldeep and Chahal) are bowling which is obviously heart-warming because one did not get to see wrist spinners much few months back,” Tendulkar said at a thought conclave in Bengaluru.
“I think they have been bowling well in tandem. I think it is fantastic because that is something which the rest of the world is yet to figure out how to play them,” the legendary batsman made an important observation.
But Tendulkar feels that India should try and win as many matches as possible before opposition teams get a grip of their artistry. “They (rival teams) are trying to figure out what are the right options to score runs against them. What is the right option to survive. What are the options to – how do we block and those kind of things. But before they figure out we should try and win as many matches,” he added.
Tendulkar also said the beauty of wrist spinners is that they can bowl even in unhelpful conditions and hence they can add a lot of value. “I firmly believed that the wrist spinners can add lot of value as they are not dependant on the surface. It is about what you do in the air and you have varieties bowling leg-spinners as well as googlies. Of course, during our days, bowling doosras by off spinners was common,” he said.
Tendulkar also said when batters play against wrist spinners in shorter format like T20, they can get away with experimental shots like reverse sweep over point or short third man or scoop shots over the keeper’s head, “But in a longer format game (50 overs), you cannot do all these things. You got to know how to tackle those two bowlers in between,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)