Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who recently got married last month appeared on an online cricket coaching platform on Wednesday. During his interaction with the students, he revealed who inspired him to acquire the art of leg-spin under his sleeve.
The leg-spinner credited none other than the former Australian spinner Shane Warne who is considered one of the maestro of leg-spin till date. Chahal, who is himself a frontline bowler for India in the limited-overs format said he followed the former keenly during his initial days of his career.
He said watching Warne’s videos helped him tremendously in improving his leg-spin that later went on to become one of his biggest weapons against batsmen.
“I started watching videos of Shane Warne sir, and that’s where I realised what leg-spin is. He was my idol, and I wanted to be like him, bowl like him,” Chahal said.
“You know, his name was all over the headlines and newspapers. I used to enjoy the way he used to trap the batsman. One class that he had was about controlling the drift, so that’s what I learnt by watching his videos all the time,” he added.
The 30-year-old had a forgetful ODI series against Australia, but he showed grit in the T20I series and even helped India win it by 2-1. He is now expected to play against England during the tour of India in February & March.
During his interaction, he also shared how on his father’s advice he switched to bowling from medium-pace to leg-spin at school level cricket.
“In the beginning, in school, I used to bowl medium-pace. Later, dad said that medium pacers need a proper body, and it also involves more risks of injury. Later, I don’t know what came over me, and I started bowling leg-spin. We used to play with a tennis ball in our neighbourhood lanes, and back then I used to bowl medium-pace, and when I got tired I used to switch to off-spin or leg-spin,” said Chahal.
“I realised that the ball is turning more in leg-spin, which would make things difficult for the batsmen, so this made me enjoy bowling leg-spin more. I think dad made me realise it. And, I feel one should also spend more time on what you enjoy, whether you want to be a medium-pacer or a leg-spinner,” he concluded.
