Ajantha Mendis showers praise on Yuzvendra Chahal

India’s Yuzvendra Chahal entered the record books with his heroics in the final T20I game against England at Bengaluru. The young leggie became only the second bowler in the history of T20Is to bag six wickets in an innings. During the match, Chahal returned with figures of 6/25 as India capped off a 75 run win to seal the series 2-1.

The youngster drew praises from all fronts. Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis was no exception either. While Chahal was the second bowler to achieve the unique feat, it was the mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis who holds the distinction of being the first one.

Not just once, Mendis has a unique achievement of taking a six-wicket haul on two occasions. He had scalped a six-fer against Australia in 2011 and then against Zimbabwe in 2012. The Sri Lankan bowler had his word of praise for Yuzvendra Chahal after watching him bowl. He noted that taking six wickets in an innings in a T20I is far more difficult than doing the same in ODIs or Tests.

Talking about the secret to attain this, he added that accuracy and variations hold the key in T20Is. With just 24 balls in hand, there is very little room for error.

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“It is not easy to take 6 wickets especially in T20. Literally you have to take a wicket in every 4 balls. Accuracy and variation are the keys. If you bowl loose no batsman will show mercy to you when he is reading your balls correctly, as a bowler you have to set in your game from ball one. You get to bowl only 24 balls and there is no room for any mistakes,” quoted Ajantha Mendis.

Speaking specifically about Yuzvendra Chahal, Mendis remarked that he could not watch the match but saw the highlights that left him impressed. He called Chahal a good bowler. “I could not watch Chahal’s entire spell on Wednesday. But yes, I did watch the highlights. I saw him bowling. He is a good bowler,” added Mendis.

It is worth noting that Chahal has stayed back in Bengaluru to work a little more on his bowling. He will be the National Cricket Academy for a few days now. Most of the other players are back home for bit of a breather before they regroup for the Bangladesh Test.