Looks like Ashwin #2 might make his India debut soon!

[SecondSlip]

In search for leggie, Kumble turns to the other Ashwin

 

About an hour before the start of the third day's play , India coach Anil Kumble was seen working with the `other' Ashwin -Tamil Nadu leg-spinner M Ashwin -at the MAC `B' ground, leading to speculation if the spinner was among those in the fray for national selection. The leggie, incidentally , was bought for an eyebrow-raising Rs 4.5 crore by the Pune Supergiants in the last IPL after impressing former CSK skipper MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming as a net bowler in 2015.

The sight of Kumble, one of India's greatest leg-spinners, working with a young leggie was a reminder that India's quest for a match-winning leggie has not ended since the retirement of the man himself in 2008. Although Amit Mishra has proven himself many a times in the shorter formats of the game (T20s and ODIs), he hasn't been able to make a significant impact in red-ball cricket.

M Ashwin, who is part of the TN Ranji probables, was asked by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) to bowl to the likes of R Ashwin and Karun Nair in the nets. Kumble, who was also bowling alongside M Ashwin, was seen passing on his knowledge constantly throughout the session. The 26-year-old leggie said later that Kumble was "helping him" out with his bowling. "It was a good interactive session. He was helping me out to rectify a few things. He said that I have good bounce, turn and spin.He just made a few corrections so that I could get in line more often and be more consistent. I was bowling well and he just wanted to make a few corrections. He wanted me to finish across the body so that I could be at the stumps a lot more." Ashwin has played three first-class games for Tamil Nadu.

Mishra hasn't been impressive but he also hasn't got a consistent run in white flannels. He has been used primarily as the third spinner, with R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being the two lead tweakers. Since the Test series against Sri Lanka last year, Mishra has played only a couple of games in almost all the series and hasn't been a regular. Despite claiming 15 wickets in the five ODIs against New Zealand, Mishra hasn't been able to find a place in the XI regularly in the ongoing England Test series. Of the three innings he has bowled so far, he has picked up four wickets giving away 245 runs.

Piyush Chawla hasn't been in the national reckoning for a while now and Haryana leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who had an impressive IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore, did make a good ODI debut against Zimbabwe in June earlier year. However, former India bowling coach Bharat Arun feels Mishra needs to show some aggression. "He has terrific skills and ingredients to be a match-winner. However, I feel he has to be a bit more aggressive," Arun told TOI.

The 54-year-old coach, who worked with Chahal in the IPL with RCB, said the Haryana leggie has to bowl a lot more in first-class cricket. "Chahal can be a good prospect for Tests. He has done a good job this Ranji (28 wickets in 6 matches). He is quite an aggressive spinner and possess a good mindset. But he has to play more first-class cricket and prove himself," said Arun and added that India do have a crop of young leggies in junior cricket who need to be nurtured properly .

 

[bowl_out]

No Chahal?

[sandeep]

11 minutes ago, bowl_out said:

No Chahal?

Chahal is not based in Chennai.  Kumble doing the right thing, working with some of the local talent and giving them some input.  Story just hyping it up a bit...

 

I have high hopes for Chahal.  In a utopian world, I would have liked to see one of Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav debut this series, but can't complain.  Jayant Yadav has more than justified his selection.  

[express bowling]

Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal are the obvious front-runners as far as wrist spinners are concerned.

[SUMO]

2 hours ago, express bowling said:

Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal are the obvious front-runners as far as wrist spinners are concerned.

why chahal is rated so much .. i didn't find him good enough to play for country seeing him ipl 
I may be wrong .. I find shreyas gopal more exciting .. could you please compare these two, i am curious to know 

[MCcricket]

K yadav for me is at the top,Chahal is next as he is aggressive n temperamentally stronger also has a slingy action so he will get dip n drop, Gopal is a good all round option and Ashwin is also with Gopal new to the domestic scene

[tweaker]

Kuldeep should have made debut for India by now

[express bowling]

6 hours ago, SUMO said:

why chahal is rated so much .. i didn't find him good enough to play for country seeing him ipl 
I may be wrong .. I find shreyas gopal more exciting .. could you please compare these two, i am curious to know 

Firstly, Chahal is in the A team, from which most new players get in the Indian team nowadays...that makes him a front-runner.

 

Also...Chahal can spin the ball more than most and gets some zip off the track too. He needs to improve his accuracy a bit ...but that will come with time for most wrist-spinners.

 

he has had a good Ranji season this time.

 

I have liked Gopal too...similar qualities although he is more prone to giving a boundary ball than Chahal. 

 

The main issue with Gopal is that he does not bowl sufficiently for his  Ranji side.

[SUMO]

14 hours ago, express bowling said:

Firstly, Chahal is in the A team, from which most new players get in the Indian team nowadays...that makes him a front-runner.

 

Also...Chahal can spin the ball more than most and gets some zip off the track too. He needs to improve his accuracy a bit ...but that will come with time for most wrist-spinners.

 

he has had a good Ranji season this time.

 

I have liked Gopal too...similar qualities although he is more prone to giving a boundary ball than Chahal. 

 

The main issue with Gopal is that he does not bowl sufficiently for his  Ranji side.

he has double no. of wickets than chahal and lots of 5-fer and 3 years younger
his batting is also very good...
overall looks like more exciting talent to invest in A-tours etc
 

[G_B_]

wasnt he released by his ipl franchise?

[SecondSlip]

5 hours ago, G_B_ said:

wasnt he released by his ipl franchise?

Yep lol 

[express bowling]

10 hours ago, SUMO said:

he has double no. of wickets than chahal and lots of 5-fer and 3 years younger
his batting is also very good...
overall looks like more exciting talent to invest in A-tours etc
 

I think so too....but not sure Gopal is the front-runner yet from the selectors' point of view.

 

I liked his bowling a lot during Duleep Trophy. He was getting turn and bounce regularly and picked up a 5-fer.

 

Chahal is a late bloomer and his overall stats won't give us the full picture.