Kuldeep Yadav and I could have played together if Ravindra Jadeja was a medium pacer: Chahal

June 2019 was the last time when wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal played together in a match for India. It was a league match opposed to England in 2019 World Cup. Chahal leaked 88 runs in his 10 overs, while Kuldeep managed a wicket after spending 72 runs.

The two spinners are regulars in the white-ball formats but hardly do they get chance to play together now. India enjoyed decent success when they used to bowl in tandem and their famous partnership was given a name as well — ‘Kul-Cha’.

In an interview with Sports Tak, Chahal was asked about the reason why Kuldeep and him do not get to play together now. The 30-year-old gave a very straightforward answer and said that team’s combination matters more than the duo playing together, in addition to that the comeback of Ravindra Jajdeja in the limited-overs squads led to reshuffling of orders in the playing XI.

Chahal mentioned that Kuldeep and were together in the XI when Hardik Pandya, a seam bowling all-rounder was in the team. However, his back injury paved way for the comeback of Ravindra Jadeja, a spin bowling all-rounder.

Yuzvendra Chahal, who is gearing up for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour consisting of 6 white-ball matches, said he is happy as long as the Team India was winning.

“When Kuldeep Yadav and I used to play, Hardik Pandya was also there and he would bowl. In 2018 Hardik Pandya got injured and Ravindra Jadeja made a comeback (in white-ball cricket) as an all-rounder, the one who could also bat at number 7. Unfortunately, he is a spinner, we could have played together if he was a medium pacer. It was the demand of the team.

“Kuldeep and I played 50-50 matches in any series. Sometimes he would play 3 matches of a 5 matches of a series, sometimes I would get the chance. The team combination is needed, 11 players make a team and ‘Kulcha’ was not making it. We were there till Hardik was there, we were also given chances. The need of the team was to have an all-rounder at No. 7 position. I am happy even if I am not playing but the team is winning,” Chahal said.

Yuzvendra Chahal was recently seen playing in now-postponed IPL 2021. He scalped 4 wickets in 7 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).