India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal said his time as a junior chess player helps him pre-empt what a batsman is trying to do.
Chahal had an impressive World Cup debut against South Africa, picking 4/51 in India’s six-wicket victory in Southampton.
“Chess has taught me patience and planning. When you play chess, you normally plan 15 to 16 moves in advance,” Chahal said.
“Ditto when you bowl to a player like Faf [Du Plessis], you need to plan whether to bowl a googly or a flipper, which are the deliveries they are picking and the ones they can’t pick,” he added.
He cited the dismissal of South Africa captain Faf du Plessis as something he had planned after analysing his approach. “I loved the manner in which I dismissed Faf. Since I was getting my deliveries to drift, I planned bowling a slider on off-stump and he didn’t read,” said Chahal.
The 28-year-old first shot into prominence during his first year at Royal Challengers Bengaluru having mostly warmed the benches at Mumbai Indians previously.
“He is one bowler who will never say no to bowling irrespective of any situation in the match,” Kohli said.
“He is ready to bowl in Powerplays. If you keep seven fielders inside the circle, even then he is ready. He has a very high degree of self belief and the way he thinks about the game is very different from others,” Kohli added.
While Kohli lauded his ability to soak in pressure, Chahal credited it to the pace department, which has relentlessly attacked the opposition. “I give credit to our pacemen for setting it up as when myself and Kuldeep [Yadav] come into the attack, there is far less pressure on us.”
But game awareness is something that is difficult to buy and Chahal has it in abundance. “He is fully aware about the behaviour of the pitch and what needs to be done. That is his strength. Whatever he has achieved today, the credit solely goes to him as all he had done is to bowl his heart out,” Kohli said.
