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Former England bowler Graeme Swann has declared Indian tweaker Yuzvendra Chahal as the “best spinner in the world”, urging the national selectors to include him in India's Test squad as soon as possible. Continuing with his rich praise of Yuzvendra Chahal, Graeme Swann claimed that the 31-year-old Rajasthan Royals wrist-spinner was “world-class” and should be part of India's bowling line-up in the longest format of the game.
While Yuzvendra Chahal was a regular member of the Indian cricket team in both One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and T20Is, he was yet to make his debut in the whites. Since making his national debut in 2016, Yuzvendra Chahal has featured in 61 ODIs for India, picking up 104 wickets in the format. In T20Is, Yuzvendra Chahal has collected 75 wickets in 60 games.
In a conversation with The Times of India, Graeme Swann backed Yuzvendra Chahal to come good in Test cricket as well. He said that if he was a part of the Indian team management, he would have straightaway named him in the Test squad.
“I'd sit down with Yuzi and I'd say, ‘What is it? Do you want to play for India?' If he does, I'd have him in the squad straight away,” Graeme Swann said.
“I think he is world-class, he is the best spinner in the world in my opinion. His control, bowling leg-spin in very tricky conditions, especially when that ball gets dew on it and gets wet is incredible,” the former England off-spinner added.
“Definitely people get pigeonholed into one or the other format and can then find it hard.”
Graeme Swann, however, feels that spinners, especially from the sub-continent have been classified as T20, ODI, or Test bowlers by the national selectors and that's why they confine themselves to a particular format of the game.
To come out of this pigeonhole isn't easy and Yuzvendra Chahal seems to have fallen into the same trap as well because the Indian team management has never picked him in the Test squad.
“Well, I should say Yuzi is the best white-ball spinner then because we don’t know if he can be the best red-ball spinner. But it shows that some cricketers have been pigeonholed into the white-ball format,” he opined.
On Sunday, Yuzvendra Chahal who was the star of India's win over Ireland in the first T20I as he finished with excellent figures of 1/11 in his three overs.
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Two years ago, Yuzvendra Chahal had expressed his desire to play Test cricket. Yet an opportunity hasn't come his way.
“I have played ODIs and T20Is but when someone calls you a Test player, it is a different feeling all together. In ODIs and T20Is, you know that the batsman will hit you for boundaries and sixes and you have to stop him by taking wickets or not allow him to go over the top. But in Tests, you have to get him out at any cost. That's the biggest challenge. Test cricket needs a lot of patience. I believe I have the patience and composure to play Test cricket,” he had said.
Coming back to Graeme Swann, he has backed Virat Kohli to be named as the captain of Team India for the fifth Test against England in Birmingham.
Regular skipper Rohit Sharma is currently recuperating from the COVID-19 infection. But his chances of getting fit for the match are grim. In his absence, Swann wants Virat Kohli to take over and lead the team in the decider at Edgbaston.
India currently lead the five-match series 2-1 and if they manage to beat the hosts in the final game at Edgbaston it would be their first series win on English soil in 15 years. India last defeated England in a Test series at their home in 2007.
“You could say why not let Virat Kohli finish off the things he started and sort of have a final hoorah. Whether Virat would want to do that, I don’t know. I don’t think England will really mind. Maybe, if you think about Ben Stokes… He would quite like Virat Kohli to be captain then he could directly compare to how Joe Root’s team played against Virat Kohli’s,” Graeme Swann said in an interaction organized by Sony Sports Network ahead of the fifth Test against England.
“We saw a lot of the New Zealand players getting Covid but they recovered really quickly so I’m hoping Rohit would do the same and lead India,” he added.
“England won’t be too worried about who is India’s captain. They would be looking to put as much pressure as possible on the Indian batting unit and bowl them out. When we used to play against the Indian team, they had some great names, we always used to worry about how to get them out cheaply, it was never about who is captain,” Graeme Swann concluded.
