Punjab Kings spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was visibly over the moon after receiving a cherished gift from his cricketing idol - MS Dhoni's bat.
'His file has been closed. I have got no idea why they did that.'
Ignored by national selectors for the ongoing Asia Cup and upcoming ODI World cup, Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has signed up with English county side Kent to play three County Championship games.
Yuzvendra Chahal might be despondent after the selectors snubbed him for the T20I series against Australia, but the leg-spinner channelised his angst positively with a six-wicket burst against Uttarakhand.
With Mahendra Singh Dhoni being the same player and no one to "bell the cat", CSK are in unusual mess with a mis-firing top-order where the skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad has had to give up his opening slot.
Chahal will play a key role in India's campaign at the T20 World Cup
Seasoned India batter Ajinkya Rahane led by example with a 32-ball fifty as defending champions Mumbai got off to a winning start, beating Haryana by eight wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali domestic T20 in Jaipur on Monday.
Mhatre's maiden ton, Dube blitz fire Mumbai to seven-wicket win over Vidarbha
Chahal was named in the 15-member squad that will board the England-bound flight to take part in the marquee event which begins from May 30.
According to Chahal, when he was not in the national team, he worked on changing his bowling angles.
A round-up of Monday's action in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament.
I have two variations of googly up my sleeve: Chahal
Young leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal said big grounds like the one at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha, Nagpur, provides him with a chance to flight the deliveries more in order to create a deception.
Yuzvendra Chahal feels that playing under an attacking captain like Virat Kohli brought the best out of him and made him more attacking.
The 22-year-old Kuldeep, from Kanpur, grabbed nine wickets in the ODI series against Australia while Haryana-born Chahal picked up seven wickets in the same series.
'I know that if I can bowl 2-3 dot balls, he will step out and try to play an aggressive shot. However, in order to beat the batsman, the line and length has to be perfect' 'The combination is good. Before the match, we discuss what the wicket will be like. We also discuss what ball to bowl to which batsmen. We always have plans'
'I started watching videos of Shane Warne sir, and that's where I realised what leg-spin is. He was my idol, and I wanted to be like him, bowl like him.'
Chahal, who has been an automatic choice in the limited overs format has not played any first-class cricket since December 2016 (against Haryana in Ranji Trophy), but the Indian team management and especially skipper Virat Kohli has indicated that he wants the wiry leg-spinner for five-day matches also.
Vishnu Solanki helped Baroda pull off a last-over heist against Haryana with a sensational 71, which included a six off the final ball of the match, to fire his team into the semi-finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, in Ahmedabad, on Wednesday.
India's journey into their ODI future will hit its first stop during the opening match against South Africa on Sunday.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing for Sunday's first ODI against South Africa?
India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal feels it would be unfair to compare him and Kuldeep Yadav with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, a combination which has proved itself over the years.
India's star pacer Mohammed Shami set up Bengal's comfortable win against Meghalaya with a measly spell in their Group A contest in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy in Rajkot on Sunday.
Baba Indrajith helped himself to a fine hundred while another senior campaigner Vijay Shankar scored a half-century as Tamil Nadu cruised into the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Chahal that the skipper and team management back him to go for wickets
There were speculations regarding Dhoni's participation in this year's T20 World Cup in Australia, which was postponed to 2022 due to the global health crisis.
The 18 wickets in this year's IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore will certainly boost his confidence as there is nothing like taking good form into a big event like IPL.
Round-up of the matches across various venues in the Ranji Trophy
The legendary Muttiah Muralitharan opened up on the Indian team ahead of this year's ODI World Cup.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday.
Jayant Yadav will replace off-spinner Washington Sundar, who tested positive for COVID-19 during the camp in Bengaluru.
Defending champions Mumbai got their Ranji Trophy campaign back on track with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Maharashtra in their second group A league game in Mumbai on Monday, offsetting the heavy loss to Baroda in the opening game.
Royal Challengers Bangalore beat defending champions Mumbai Indians by two wickets in a last-ball thriller in the Indian Premier League opener, in Chennai, on Friday.
Rahul Tewatia was always destined to achieve stardom in the Indian Premier League because of his swashbuckling batting, says his childhood coach Vijay Yadav, after watching his ward's exploits for Rajasthan Royas, in the IPL match against Kings XI Punjab, in Sharjah, on Sunday.
In case Ravichandran Ashwin is ruled out, the Indian team management's preferred choice is Yuzvendra Chahal.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday
Poor fielding and lack of judgement while going for the Decision Review System cost India the first T20 International against Bangladesh, stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma said.
Surya, who has been in great form, single-handedly guided the domestic giants to victory with an over to spare.
India's Test captain Virat Kohli feels that it will be difficult to replace someone like Mahendra Singh Dhoni but Wriddhiman Saha according to him 'deserves' to don the gloves for the national team for the 'next five to six years'.
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