Yuzvendra Chahal replacing Ravindra Jadeja: The mid-innings swap between two Indian players worked well for the visitors.
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India captain Virat Kohli was all praises for the likes of debutant T. Natarajan, pacer Deepak Chahar and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal after India secured an 11-run victory in the first T20I of the ongoing India’s tour of Australia in Canberra.
“In Australia, you need to play hard and show intensity till the end. He [Ravindra Jadeja] batted beautifully in the last game. [T] Natarajan looks like he can improve a lot. [Deepak] Chahar bowled well as well. [Yuzvendra] Chahal got us back in the game. Hardik’s [Pandya] catch was a game changer as well,” Kohli told Fox Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.
Chasing a 162-run target, Australia were reduced to 150/7 in 20 overs despite a 56-run opening partnership primarily due to Natarajan and Chahal registering combined bowling figures of 8-0-55-6.
‘Concussion replacements are a strange thing’: Virat Kohli reacts to Yuzvendra Chahal replacing Ravindra Jadeja
The match allured enough heat for a intriguing contest when match referee David Boon allowed India to bring in Chahal as all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s concussion substitute. The manner in which Jadeja wasn’t attended by a doctor after coping the blow and continuing to bat in the final over did attract severe criticism but the same didn’t stop Chahal from creating an impact in the match.
“Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja] got a knock on the side of a head and was a bit dizzy and still is. There were no plans of having Yuzi [Yuzvendra Chahal] in the game.
“Concussion replacements are a strange thing, today it worked for us maybe another time he wouldn’t have found a like-for-like. Yuzi showed character to squeeze the opponents. I thought they had a great start,” Kohli mentioned.
Chahal, who registered individual bowling figures of 4-0-25-3, ended up becoming the ‘Man of the Match’ even after not featuring in India’s starting Playing XI. With him bowling exceedingly well, India will be tempted to retain him for the next T20I irrespective of whether Jadeja recovers or not.
