SA vs IND, 2018: Indian spinners have bowled magically: Sunil Gavaskar
Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has lavished praise on India’s red-hot spin-twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Both the spinners have looked quite unplayable in the ongoing series against South Africa as their impressive performances have helped India go two-nil up in the six-match One-day International series.
In the series-opener at Kingsmead in Durban, South Africa were looking set to post a big total after racing away to 83 for one.
However, once Virat Kohli handed the ball to Chahal and Kuldeep, the Proteas’ innings got derailed and they were eventually restricted to 269 for eight in the allotted 50 overs.
Moreover, South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis scored a fighting 120 but watched from the other end, as Kuldeep (three for 34) and Chahal (two for 45) ran through his side to reduce them from 83 for one to 134 for five. India went on to win the game by six wickets.
The spinners tormented the hosts in the second ODI too, taking eight wickets between them – to help India skittle out South Africa for just 118. Chahal bagged stunning figures of five for 22 while Kuldeep picked up three for 20.
Gavaskar began his column by congratulating India Under-19 team for winning the World Cup, before shifting his focus towards the senior team.
“A hearty congratulations to the India Under-19 team on winning the ICC Under-19 World Cup and that too in such an emphatic manner. The margin of wins shows that they were by far the best team in the tournament, well ahead of the rest. The best part was that in every match some player or the other put his hand up and helped the team coast to an easy win,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Times of India.
He further praised Virat Kohli & Co, writing: “The senior cricket team is doing a terrific job in ensuring the missed opportunities of the test series are not repeated in the one-day series. On pitches where there has been not a blade of grass the Indian spinners have bowled magically to weave a web around the leaden-footed Proteas batsmen.
The batting legend also expressed his surprise over an experienced Aiden Markram being handed the captaincy in absence of Faf du Plessis, who has been ruled out of the series due to injury,
“The Proteas selectors sprang a surprise in naming a two-ODI old Aiden Markram as the stand-in skipper for the series after Du Plessis’ injury. Every country has its fixed notions of the attributes their cricket skipper should have and so maybe the Proteas believe he is the man for the future. In India if you speak good English you have a better chance of becoming the captain,” Gavaskar wrote.
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