MS Dhoni can read bowlers' body language from behind the stumps: Yuzvendra Chahal

India’s new leg-spinning sensation Yuzvendra Chahal said that MS Dhoni has the ability to read a bowler’s body language from the behind the stumps. Chahal, who made his ODI and T20I debut under Dhoni’s captaincy in 2016, has been one of India’s most successful spinners in the limited-overs formats of late.

While the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are the ones who hunt in pairs in Test cricket, in the shorter formats it’s Chahal’s leg-spinners along with chinaman Kuldeep Yadav’s chinaman that do the bulk of the damage. Chahal shot to fame during the IPL, where he represents the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

A miserly economy rate and his knack of picking up wickets promoted him to the national side. He made his debut against Zimbabwe when MS Dhoni was still the skipper of the Indian Cricket Team. Chahal is currently a regular feature in India’s limited-overs sides.

I got many wickets because of MS Dhoni: Chahal

Dhoni’s leadership and as well as his intuition from behind the stumps has been lauded by many who’ve grown under his tutelage. Chahal being one of them, was grateful to Dhoni and also recounted interesting tales that display MSD’s insight and how he can read situations in a game of cricket. During India’s Asia Cup encounter against Pakistan, he said that skipper Rohit Sharma was having a discussion with Dhoni, following which the leggie was brought into the attack.

“I looked at Dhoni bhai, he rushed towards me and asked me to bowl ‘stump to stump’. I did just that and trapped Imam ul-Haq lbw. This is not the first time he (MS Dhoni) has guided me. There have been many occasions in the past when I got wickets because of him,” the leg-spinner was quoted as saying to Times of India (TOI).

Yuzvendra Chahal also illustrated how Virat Kohli, who currently leads India in all three formats of the game, seeks advice from MS Dhoni. “Virat Kohli is a great captain. Sometimes, when in doubt, he too approaches Dhoni (on the field) and asks for advice. And it works really well for the team. Sometimes Dhoni bhai scolds us from behind the stumps when we make mistakes,” Chahal said with a smile.

The spinner is likely to be back in action for the 5 ODIs and the 3 T20Is against the Windies, as is MS Dhoni.

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