India vs Australia 2017: Yuzvendra Chahal Responds To Steve Smith's 'Two New Balls' Remark
Updated - 19 May 2019, 04:54 PM
With Australia captain Steve Smith ruing playing against two new balls after the 26-run defeat in the series-opener in Chennai on Sunday (September 17), India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has hit back at the visiting skipper. Chahal, who took 3 for 30, said that the tourists would have said two new balls was a plus-point had they managed to chase down the total.
“It was never going to be easy chasing 160 with two new balls,” Smith had said at the post-match press conference.
“It was sort of a good new-ball wicket to bowl with. We could have perhaps played things a little bit differently and tried to take a little bit more time upfront. It’s always hard in 20 overs to judge that. We weren’t good enough tonight,” he added.
After being set a revised total of 164 in 21 overs, Australia never looked at ease during the chase, losing wickets at regular intervals and managed to score only 137 for 9.
Interestingly, five out of 9 wickets were taken by India’s wrist-spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal and the latter could not stop himself from expressing his take on Smith’s comments. Replying to the Australian star’s statement, Chahal said that the rain-curtailed innings was an advantage for the tourists as the T20I rules were not implemented in the game.
“The 21-over game was a plus-point for Australia because the rules were not according to T20,” Chahal said.
“The extra fielder was always inside the circle. If they had won the game, they would have said it (two new balls) was a plus-point for them. Because in T20s, if there is a new ball from both ends, then it is good for the batsmen. There was something in the wicket, so we too had an advantage,” he added.
He went on to credit his teammates for the impressive bowling performance.
“So we’ve bowled well. Whether it is a new ball or an old ball, our bowlers bowled well. We got a good start with the way our pacers bowled. We managed to keep the pressure on them from the start and didn’t give them a chance to come into the game,” he said.
