T20 World Cup | Might be some games in Australia where India would need to field both Kuldeep and Chahal, admits Virat Kohli

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has hinted at the possibility of fielding both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in the XI in the T20 World Cup in Australia next year. 

After having established themselves in the past 18 months as the most potent spin-bowling duo in limited-overs cricket, things have gone haywire for the combination of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, commonly known as ‘KulCha’, ever since their game against England in the 2019 World Cup. A dismal showing in the game resulted in Kuldeep getting dropped from the team and he has, since, been replaced in the ODI unit by Ravindra Jadeja, who has grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

Whilst Chahal somehow managed to keep his place in the team intact, Kuldeep was axed from the T20Is against the Windies, South Africa and Bangladesh, but has now been given a second chance after being recalled by the selectors for the three-match T20I series against the Caribbean nation at home. But despite being in and out of the side, the left-arm chinaman spinner is well and truly in Kohli’s plans for the 2020 World Cup, with the Indian skipper hinting at the possibility of fielding two leggies in the global showdown next year. 

"Having two wrist spinners is a big advantage when you're playing in Australia in big fields. There might be some games where both might play together but in T20 cricket, as I mentioned, it's all about balance,” Kohli said in the pre-match press conference, reported Cricbuzz.

However, heading into the WT20 next year, despite Kuldeep’s recall, Kohli affirmed that he sees the team predominantly going with the current combination, which implies that they would field two frontline pacers, a leg-spinner, a left-arm or an off-spinner and a pace-bowling all-rounder. Kohli also emphasized on the need of having six bowling options in T20 cricket and further went on to lavish praise on Ravindra Jadeja who, of late, has been a star with both bat and ball across all formats.

“Predominantly we see one guy (wrist-spinner) playing with Jadeja and Washi because it gives us all kinds of variety in the bowling attack - along with the two-seamers and the allrounder, the seaming allrounder. So you need to have six bowling options in T20 cricket, that's the basic rule. You can't go in with five expecting everyone to bowl four good overs. It gets very difficult as a team after a while. I think that is the balance that we need to create,” the Indian skipper said.

"Two wrist spinners, as I said, there might be opportunities for both of them to play together, and we'll see how that can be worked out. But bringing Jaddu back in as well, we feel he's batting really well - he's probably in the best batting form of his life - bowling he's a proper finger spinner, very accurate as well and in the field we don't have any doubts on him. So I think this is really his best phase as an allrounder and we want to maximise that,” he explained.

So, with Kohli all but suggesting that spots for the slot of spinner still up for grabs in next year’s WT20 squad, which spinner will impress the most in the first T20I? The odds are as follows: Yuzvendra Chahal - 3.25, Ravindra Jadeja - 4.50, Kuldeep Yadav - 5.00 and Washington Sundar - 6.00. Extremely close to call, but the punters seem to be favoring Chahal, who was the pick of the spinners in their last T20I series against Bangladesh.