While the Indian team is enjoying there first ever series win in the rainbow nation, it’s important to acknowledge the fact that the chief architect of their triumph was the compelling partnership of the two young wrist spinners- Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. India’s young wrist-spin duo scalped as many as 30 wickets from five matches in the ongoing series, helping India create history in South Africa.
Praising their efforts, the legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar showered praises on the spin twins and said they reminded him of the “artist” Shane Warne the way they set up their victims with a “courageous” approach.
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Kuldeep and Chahal continued their majestic form in the fifth ODI at Port Elizabeth, sharing six wickets between them to help India register a 73-run over the Proteas. Indian captain Virat Kohli thereby became the first Indian skipper and only the second Asian skipper after Misbah-ul-Haq in 2013 to win a bilateral ODI series in the rainbow nation.
Speaking of the spin duo’s combination in the ongoing series Gavaskar said, “I have seen some wonderful spinners. Abdul Qadir, for example. He was fantastic as a leg-spinner. Shane Warne was another. I didn’t play against him, but he was an artist. He set batsmen up. I think this is exactly what these two spinners [Kuldeep and Chahal] are trying to do, trying to set batsmen up.”
Sunil Gavaskar further added, “Comparisons obviously are odious as guys are from different eras, different generation. But these two guys are two of the most exciting young spinners.”
Also read: Vettori credits Virat for Chahal's successKuldeep and Chahal combinedly took as many as 30 scalps in the ongoing series. It is already the highest number of wickets taken by Indian spinners in a bilateral series, going past the tally of 27 Harbhajan Singh and other spinners picked up during England tour of India in 2006.
The chinaman bowler Kuldeep also now holds the record for the most ODI wickets by a spinner on the South African soil in a series after surpassing Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan’s record of 14 wickets.
