India vs South Africa: Yuzvendra Chahal reveals how he redeemed his bowling in third T20I

All-round performance by India helped them in defeating South Africa by 48 runs in the third T20I of five-match series at Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday

Indian bowler Yuzvendra Chahal celebrates the wicket of South Africa’s batsman Rassie van der Dussen, during the 3rd T20 cricket match between India and South Africa, at Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy International Cricket Stadium, in Visakhapatnam. Pic/PTI

Bouncing back after two losses, Yuzvendra Chahal, whose three-wicket haul helped Team India stay alive in the series ahead, revealed how he redeemed his bowling from the previous two games.

“I bowled a lot of sliders and bowled quicker in the previous matches. Today, I changed my seam position. Spinning and getting the ball to dip are my strengths. Today I tried to get it to turn and bowl slower. I tried to bowl to my strengths, I focused on that,” said Chahal in a post-match presentation.

“When batters try to reverse-sweep, it becomes tough for the bowlers. But now I have a second plan and set fields accordingly. I didn’t bowl well in the previous game, the coach asked me to back my strengths. The ground there (Rajkot) is bigger,” he added.

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After the victory, India have opened their account in the five-match series with the win in the do-or-die clash. With the series still 2-1 in favour of the visitors, the fourth T20I will be played on Friday at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Gujarat.

Batting first, a 97-run stand between Ruturaj Gaikwad (57) and Ishan Kishan (54) powered India to 179/5 in their allotted 20 overs. The first innings was a see-saw one as India dominated the first half of the innings, but South Africa pulled back momentum to their side in the other half.

In reply, the Proteas never looked like going as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and in the end were bundled out for 131 with five balls still to play. For Men in Blue, Chahal and Harshal Patel starred with the ball as they bagged three and four wickets respectively to derail the visitors’ chase. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Axar Patel scalped one wicket apiece.

(with ANI inputs)