For a country infatuated with batting, the performance of two young, bold wrist spinners must be a revelation. It is more. It is an astonishing feat not only because it has been at the core of a first limited overs series win in South Africa but, quite simply, because spinners have never done so well there before.
If you like wrist spin, and I must confess I love watching wrist spinners, then this has been a sight to behold. Two small, slim men, not possessed of the brawn of the big fellows who bully and knock over batsmen, have tricked their opponents into submission. They have tossed the ball up, they have invited assault upon themselves and have enjoyed a merry laugh as the big bats have been left groping.
Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are the kind of guys you would offer middle seats in a plane to. They would fit in and everyone else would be comfortable. Take away guile and skill and they have nothing left. They can't bully you, they can't scare you, they can't put the fear of injury into you. They can't intimidate you with their presence, they can't lock eyes with you and generate fear. But gee, they trick you and I won't be surprised if batsmen leave the crease feeling silly and confused. If you read about Brer Rabbit as a child, you might get the drift!
But trickery is difficult because it requires great skill and finesse. And these two have skill in abundance. And they use simple tools. Fingers, hips, shoulders. The air, the breeze. And the brain. And the heart. When someone hits them out of the ground, it isn't defeat but the start of a potential victory. That receiving a punch, which is what a big six really is to a bowler, can be part of your trade requires a big heart. For if you try to avoid it, if you play safe, you lose your chance to win.
I have been fascinated by the speeds at which Yadav and Chahal have bowled. They have bowled at around 82-83 kmph, often they have been slower. It has allowed more fizz on the ball. And more fizz means more drift, more turn, more mystery. In an era of big bats and players hitting through the line, anything that deviates off the straight has become a challenge. These two are deceiving you in the air but also off the wicket with the turn they are getting. And nobody is enjoying it more than Dhoni whose hands make a pickpocket look slow. His stumpings, the beautiful end to the bowler's trickery, have been as much fun to watch.
30 wickets in five matches is incredible and South Africa's batsmen seem at the end of their tether in the face of these arsenic laced offerings that are floating their way. They will find a way to counter them because batsmen are clever too and possessed of a survival instinct but the series has been lost already. World cricket is only a small village though and word, and pictures, of these two would have gone to everyone residing in it. By the time Yadav and Chahal turn up to play against England and Australia and New Zealand and, eventually at the World Cup next year, they would not just have been analysed. They would have been dissected. Clever assaults would have been planned against them, tactics to take them down would have been fine-tuned.
That will be their next challenge. A trickster's ploy is quickly countered and he must keep growing his bag of tricks to stay ahead. These two will be aware of that and will have to stay fresh and alert and full of confidence. It promises to be a fascinating year ahead. But it has been great fun already.
