India captain Virat Kohli hints Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal could play in Test series against England

Sudhir Gupta 12:59 13/07/2018
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  • Kuldeep Yadav (left) and Yuzvendra Chahal could well be playing in the Test series

    Virat Kohli hinted that Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal could play in the Test series against England after being impressed with the wrist spinners’ performances on their tour so far.

    Yadav, who has two Test caps, took 6-25 in India’s eight-wicket victory in the first ODI on Thursday, while also claiming 5-24 in the first T20 in Manchester. In the two-match T20 series, he finished with seven scalps.

    Chahal, who is yet to make his Test debut, arrived in England with six wickets against Ireland but has claimed two wickets so far against Eoin Morgan’s side.

    However, Indian captain Kohli says the spinners are making strong cases to be including in the starting team for the five-match Test series that begins on August 1.

    “Anything is possible with the selections for Tests and there might be a few surprises. Kuldeep is making a strong case for himself and so is Chahal,” he said.

    “And looking at the way, the English batsmen have struggled against them, we might be tempted to do it. But the focus now is winning the next two games. Especially the next game looking at it from the series perspective”

    “Kuldeep was outstanding. To give away 25 runs and pick up six wickets on that kind of a wicket, I don’t think I have seen a better spell of bowling in ODIs of late,” he added.

    Rohit Sharma scored a stunning unbeaten 137 after England had set a target of 269. Kohli, who scored 75 praised his team for their clinical performance.

    “We knew it was a good wicket to play on,” he said. “Those wrist spinners in the middle overs are going to be tricky. Given more overs and more time in the middle, they become even more lethal.

    “When guys are not going hard at them, they have 10 overs and they know they have something to comeback and have the skill to do it.

    “Rohit batting very long and finishing the game for us. We made a tactical decision (at Bristol to drop Kuldeep) looking at the dimensions of the ground and the breeze flowing into the shorter boundary.

    “When it comes to longer game, you need players to make an impact. These two wrist spinners have been making the difference since they have come in. They did it in South Africa in the middle overs. They remain as our key weapons.”

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