Yuzvendra Chahal Reveals Why He Left Chess For Cricket

Yuzvendra Chahal is probably the only Indian cricketer to represent the country in two different sports at the international level. Chahal, the winner of 2003 World Youth Championships, though later quit the chess to focus solely on cricket.

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Now he is the leading spinner for India in ODI format and not long back, he was leading the spin attack in the shortest format with Kuldeep Yadav. Speaking of his move to cricket from chess, Chahal said that he played chess due to his father’s fondness with the game and already had his plans to play cricket.

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“Chess but was more interested in cricket. Chess was mostly due to my father. I told my father in the end that once I play for India I will leave chess,” he said at 10th edition of India Today Mind Rocks Youth Summit.

Chahal hade made his India debut under MS Dhoni on the tour of Zimbabwe in 2016. In January 2017, he registered the best figures by an Indian bowler in T20I when he scalped six wickets in his four-over spell against England.

Later that year, Chahal was called-up to the ODI squad again and he, along with Kuldeep Yadav, replaced R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in white-ball format. The duo is known for taking wickets in middle-overs and stifle the opposition batting line-up but their effectiveness has gone down of late.

Year 2019 has not gone well for the duo, which has already seen them being dropped from the T20I squad. Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Rahul Chahar are four spinners who were given chances in two T20I series after World Cup 2019 and they are expected to keep their place for the Bangladesh T20Is as well.

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Since India do not play an ODI till the month of December, good performances in the shortest format can see the T20I specialists make a case for ODI selection.

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Chahal is currently playing for Haryana in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. They next play Uttar Pradesh in Vadodara tomorrow.