Unfair to compare me and Kuldeep Yadav to R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, says Yuzvendra Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets apiece. (Source: AP)

Yuzvendra Chahal brushed away any comparisons that are being made between him and Kuldeep Yadav and India’s Test spin pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. “Ashwin and Jadeja have done so much in the last 5-6 years,” Chahal said after India’s succesfull third ODI against Sri Lanka, “We have played only for four-five series. It is unfair to compare me and Kuldeep with them. Our aim is to give our best when we go out and play. If you start comparing now itself to them, it will not be right. We have played most of our games in India, one series in Sri Lanka but the conditions were similar to India. We have not played overseas.”

Chahal and Yadav have been effective for India in limited overs cricket. In the most recent match, they effected a collapse of the Sri Lankan batting order that saw them losing eight wickets for just 55 runs. “Our role in the middle overs was to attack,” he said, “Sri Lanka were under pressure and we needed wickets. We put one slip in place. The wicket was assisting spin. On this wicket, you needed a slip because the shot Niroshan Dickwella attempted, if there was no slip in place, it would have been a boundary. He had tried it in the previous match. (Skipper) Rohit Sharma told us to bowl without fear. If one bowls short, batsmen can easily play on this track. So, the aim was to bowl with a bit more air.”

Chahal said that the wicket of Angelo Mathews was the best one for him. “The ball to Mathews drifted in and turned away by which he played down the wrong line and got beaten. It was the ball of the match for me,” he said. India went on to bundle out Sri Lanka for 215 and chased down the total in just over 32 overs with eight wickets in hand, thus winning the series 2-1. Chahal and Kuldeep took three wickets apiece.