Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag. Photo Credit: Web

Virender Sehwag, Team India’s former opening batsman and arguably one of the most destructive batsmen during his heydays credited India’s series victory in the Rainbow Nation to the two wrist spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.

Sehwag stated that it was perhaps for the first time that two bowlers came out as India’s architect of a series win away from home.

The wrist spinners broke the backbone of the South African team which never really allowed the Proteas to make a comeback in the series.

“It is not an easy task to beat South Africa in South Africa. It is a big achievement for India. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are the biggest positives for India in the ODI series. What Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh couldn’t do, Kuldeep and Chahal have done it,” Sehwag said on “Cricket Ki Baat” show.

Virender Sehwag, Wrist Spinner, South Africa Vs India 2018, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav
Chahal and Kuldeep have picked up 30 wickets in 5 ODIs against South Africa (Credits: BCCI)

“This is probably the first time where India have found two match-winning bowlers out of an ODI series. Earlier, we used to discover new batsmen. Kuldeep and Chahal should definitely get the credit,” he added.

This is for the first time that India have won a bilateral series in South Africa. Following their convincing 73 runs victory in the fifth ODI in Port Elizabeth India took an unassailable 4-1 lead in the six-match series.

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The victory was set up riding on a brilliant knock of 115 by Rohit Sharma and later on it was yet again the wrist spinners who did the job for the visitors.

Virender Sehwag, Wrist Spinner, South Africa Vs India 2018, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav
Pandya and Kohli (Credits: BCCI)

The series win for India was built around two areas. The top three in the form of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli have contributed four centuries in the series so far.

Moreover, to add to that the wrist spinners have shared 30 wickets between them so far. Sehwag heaped praises on Virat Kohli saying that his confidence level has improved after taking up the captaincy role.

“Virat Kohli’s performance has got better after he became the captain. This shows the amount of confidence he has got,” Sehwag maintained.

When asked whether Kohli was the best Indian skipper ever, Sehwag refused to make a comment but stated that he was an upgraded version of former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly under whom Sehwag’s career flourished.

“Virat Kohli’s aggression can be compared to Sourav Ganguly. He is the upgraded version of Ganguly,” he said.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya hasn’t been in the best of form in the series so far and has scored only 26 runs in five matches besides bagging just three wickets. A couple of them came in the previous encounter which proved to the game-changing moment in Port Elizabeth.

Virender Sehwag, Wrist Spinner, South Africa Vs India 2018, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav
Indian middle-order dependent on Dhawan and Kohli, feels Amarnath. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

“Hardik Pandya is India’s future. He has got the talent and if I was there in place of Virat Kohli, I would have definitely backed him. He can grow up to be one of India’s biggest match-winners in future,” Sehwag concluded.

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