Yuzvendra Chahal winced and had a frown on his face at one point during the game, just missing the final night bus and standing there breathing in the exhaust of the speeding car. Both the displeasure at what just happened and the helplessness at the uncertain near future are cascading simultaneously. In the middle overs, Chahal was smacked for two sixes by the tall Cameron Green, who had already caused a comical bulging-eyes meme from Virat Kohli on his second delivery of the chase. Hansie Cronje would have been pleased with these two heaving slog sweeps.
This is an attempt to comprehend what Chahal accomplishes when the odds are stacked against him rather than a complaint about Chahal or even about whether Ravi Bishnoi should have been chosen instead. The only things in his favour are that there wasn’t any spin available, the grass was wet, and the boundaries were small. In addition, there is of course the enormous expectation that the borders in Australia, where the T20 world cup will be contested, will be longer. And that some Australian tracks do aid with a little bit of spin and more bounce to combat the massive swings, as Adam Zampa and even Chahal have demonstrated in a few games in the distant past. But for now, that’s just a spin.
He frequently bowls the front-of-the-hand full ball on middle and even middle and leg (both of which were incidentally thrown back from midwicket stands last night) and the ball well outside off stump when there is no discernible turn and drift. He typically punctuates his series of leg breaks on pitches that aid turn with these two deliveries. But he uses them more frequently on featherbeds that resemble those in Mohali.