Yuzvendra Chahal is one of the leading leg spinners in the world right now but he can be more effective if he uses the crease more, says former Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed. Ahmed, who has coached across the globe and is currently a consultant for his native team, said that India’s ability to take wickets in the middle-overs are mostly dependent on Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav as they have been a game-changer for India since long. Both of them were brought into India’s limited-overs squad following the 2017 Champions Trophy.

“Chahal is a very good bowler but can use the crease much better. He can go wide of the crease at times. You got to be smart enough to understand pitches. If it is a flat pitch, you can bowl stump to stump,” Ahmed told PTI.

He added, “If the ball is gripping, you can go wide of the crease because you can trouble even the best of batsmen with that angle. That way your googly also doesn’t turn as much as the batsman expects and you end up taking a wicket.”

Yuzvendra Chahal has taken 91 wickets in 52 ODIs which came at 25.83 and 55 wickets in 42 T20Is at 24.34. Although he is not a huge turner of the ball, he can use his variations very effectively. Ahmed also feels that the likes of Chahal and Kuldeep have benefitted a lot from former captain MS Dhoni’s advice from behind the stumps who always help the players with his knowledge.

He further added that India have become a team to reckon with in all three formats and Dhoni pretty well knew how to get the best out of his bowlers in limited-overs cricket and now Virat Kohli also does that. Even he also added that the bowlers need to be one step ahead of the batsman and also they should know the field position as per the batsman’s strength

The member of the 1992 World Cup-winning squad added, “You need leg-spinners and mystery spinners in your team as they have the ability to take wickets at any stage of the game. I see a lot of them coming through in the next 10-15 years. Most batsmen now like playing express pace but with a good leg-spinner in the team, you are always in the game.”