What does Yuzvendra Chahal do when conditions don’t help? Why does he get hit for runs?
What does Yuzvendra Chahal do when conditions don’t help? Why does he get hit for runs? Yuzvendra Chahal winced, looked like he missed the final night bus, and breathed its fumes.
Cascading frustration at what just happened and the unknown future. Cameron Green hit Chahal for two sixes in the middle overs, prompting a bulging-eyes meme from Virat Kohli on his second ball. Hansie Cronje-worthy slog sweeps.
This isn’t a complaint about Chahal or whether Ravi Bishnoi should have been picked, but an attempt to comprehend what he does when everything is stacked against him.
Defense
His defense: no spin, damp grass, short limits. Plus, there’s anticipation that Australia’s T20 boundaries will be longer.
Adam Zampa and Chahal have proved that some Australian tracks help spin and bounce to defeat heavy swings. So far, so good. His bowling.
When there is no genuine turn and drift, he bowls front-of-the-hand full balls on middle and leg (both of which were flung back from midwicket stands last night) and balls well outside off stump. These two pitches punctuate his leg breaks on pitches that turn. He uses them more on Mohali-like featherbeds.
Last night, he seldom used the outside-in chaser. Without the turn, it’s risky against tall batsmen. The lengthy limbs reach for the enormous scythe. So he played front-hand.
He should rethink his belter delivery. Greene can sweep on demand, as he did against Sri Lankan spinners in Galle in June for a magnificent 77.
Chahal
If he misses, the ball should slip and trap him lbw. Contrary to popular belief, the front leg can interfere with slog sweeps when the line is on the middle and leg. Greene has showed he can sweep well for a tall guy. Set, he can arc the ball on the leg side. If the ball is whirling, you can even target his sweep. Chahal’s ball didn’t slip as much as he’d hoped.
So he was in a predicament, which was obvious in his looks to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, who said the plan was good.
It was, but the T20 is so harsh that a bowler who tries it for 2-3 deliveries risks losing momentum with a few huge smashes. Tuesday night with Greene.
What if he bowls off stump skidders? Greene may just hit it to the straight boundary or try his intricate reverse sweep, which he does almost every game.
We hope the slog sweep choice is made early so he’s surprised by the line shift. The problem? There’s always hope and luck in these moves; Chahal gets that (based on a couple of long discussions with him), and supporters will, too.
Axar Patel’s left-arm tweakers helped him against Greene.
Where Chahal has to push through the ball, which without turn is still a ‘floater,’ Axar can obtain the pace naturally even when trying to get it to grip and turn a bit.
Then he bowled to Greene. Until then, he skidded them in towards the middle stump from a length, angle, and velocity that even the towering Greene couldn’t get under. Will Greene shuffle off a touch or go the opposite way to work the angles?
In his eagerness to hit the wicket ball over long-on, Greene had to drag it, couldn’t get the distance, and was out.
Would Chahal’s dismissal encourage him to attempt outside off? Nagpur’s track may be varied, allowing him to use his typical skills.
The chasers perform best when aligned with his side-spun leg breaks, googlies, and sliders on the stumps. He’s handicapped. It takes a strong mentality to quit imagining the worst and attempt nevertheless.
Statements
Narendra Hirwani said, “Those who doubt them, he employs the leg-and-middle line.” Batsmen stutter as they open their stances, wary of the ball’s poison.
Marcus Stoinis and Jhye Richardson were embarrassed by his six-for at MCG in January 2019. Mohali track that day at MCG helped Greene turn, bounce, and drift in the air.
Chahal hopes to find his signature drift in Australian evenings. The only thing besides spin and bounce makes batters hesitate before swinging. No drift meant Greene didn’t need to blow on it.
Chahal told a reporter, “I’ve always had that drift.”
Chahal recalled the ejection that greatly delighted him during the Melbourne stint when Stoinis and Richardson were mentioned.
“Handscomb’s wicket? Asks Chahal. He valued it the most. Peter Handscomb, regarded good against spin, stutters, and slips as the ball skids to catch him lbw.
It swerved in from outside off-stump. Handscomb’s left foot stutter-stepped when the drift stopped him as he struggled to balance. He did it effectively, but the straightening skidding ball was too fast.
IPL
Chahal may be difficult to beat when he drifts, turns, or bounces. He can’t crack the code without it. Can his art breakthrough? Chahal might be moved to ODIs after the world cup and out of T20s. It’s a turning point in his career.
He’s leery of bowling googlies without cunning because he thinks hitters will smash them. Some, like Bishnoi, have the crease presence of a hustler with angled run-ins and quick-armed googlies and sliders.
Not that he can’t be ripped apart; batsmen mow him to the leg side this IPL. His leg break and outside-off attack improved. Everyone on the team is a work in progress, KL Rahul stated.
That’s Chahal’s dilemma.
When his leg break, spins, and drifts, it’s hard for batsmen to keep swinging. When variations become the major subject and conditions neutralize his primary weapons, pressure mounts. From the outside, watching him try to jailbreak with his decisions is intriguing. Even if he fails.
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