'I firmly believed that the wrist spinners can add lot of value as they are not dependant on the surface. It is about what you do in the air and you have varieties bowling leg-spinners as well as googlies'
Hailing the quality of wrist spin bowled by the Indian duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, former-South Africa captain Kepler Wessels has said that the Proteas batsmen were not used to playing wrist spin, and hence struggled against the two in the One-Day series.
While legend Sachin Tendulkar is confident that Kuldeep and Chahal will play a major role in India's performance in overseas conditions as the cricket world is "yet to figure out" a method to counter the two young wrist spinners.
"They struggled because most of the (current) South African batsmen hadn’t played against wrist spinners very much. They were taken by surprise by the quality of spin and they hadn't seen anything like that before,” Wessels told PTI.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian team scripted history by winning a first-ever ODI bilateral series in South Africa with a stunning 5-1 margin.
Orthodox leggie Chahal and Chinaman bowler Kuldeep shared 33 wickets between them and literally bamboozled the South African batsmen.
Wessels maintained that the Indian triumph did not come as a surprise to him.
"I wasn't surprised by India's performance as I knew going into the One Day series (after the Tests) they are going to be competitive and they are a good One Day team. South Africa had a depleted side and they lost players through injuries (in the series) and their play against spinners was not good enough. India was the better side," said Wessels, who had also played for Australia when his native country was in cricket isolation during the apartheid era.
India lost the Test series 2-1 to South Africa held prior to the ODI rubber and a lot of former players have blamed India's lack of sufficient preparation for the loss.
India will be touring England and Australia in the later part of the year and the 60-year-old former left handed batsman is of the opinion that India should go sufficiently in advance to these countries and must play warm-up matches prior to the Test rubber.
"They should definitely have some warm-up matches in England because it takes some time to get used to the English conditions. In Australia also there will be additional bounce, so one or a few warm-up matches will be a good idea," said the 60-year-old Wessels who had played in 40 Tests for Australia and then South Africa in a career spanning 12 years.
"They should have had a warm-up match in South Africa. I am not saying that would have impacted on them winning the series, but it would have helped them to get used to the conditions," he signed off.
Sharing his views on the leg spin duo, Tendulkar said: "When it comes to batting, we speak about the number of runs scored but we are also winning matches because during those middle overs where the two wrist spinners (Kuldeep and Chahal) are bowling which is obviously heart-warming because one did not get to see wrist spinners much few months back," Tendulkar said at The Huddle, a thought conclave, conducted by 'The Hindu' here.
"I think they have been bowling well in tandem. I think it is fantastic because that is something which the rest of the world is yet to figure out how to play them," the legendary batsman observed.
"They (rival teams) are trying to figure out what are the right options to score runs against them. What is the right option to survive? What are the options to -- how do we block and those kinds of things. But before they figure out we should try and win as many matches," he added.
Tendulkar also said the beauty of wrist spinners is that they can bowl even in unhelpful conditions and hence they can add a lot of value.
"I firmly believed that the wrist spinners can add lot of value as they are not dependant on the surface. It is about what you do in the air and you have varieties bowling leg-spinners as well as googlies. Of course, during our days, bowling ‘doosras’ by off spinners was common," he said.
Tendulkar also said when batsmen play against wrist spinners in a shorter format like T20, they can get away with experimental shots like reverse sweep over point or short third man or scoop shots over the keeper's head.
"But in a longer format game (50 overs), you cannot do all these things. You got to know how to tackle those two bowlers in between," he said.
Tendulkar fondly recalled how he had tweeted about Kuldeep being a bright prospect after watching bowl his first three balls in his debut Test against Australia at Dharamsala.
"I think those two bowlers -- Chahal and Kuldeep -- are going to be key factors. In fact, when Kuldeep made his debut and bowled the first few deliveries in Dharamsala, I posted a message saying that he has got a bright future and that is something which can help us go and perform well abroad," he added.
When asked India being the favourites to win the next World Cup, Tendulkar said the Indian team has done well in the last few years and the preparation for World Cup 2019 started quite some time ago.
Credit should be given to BCCI for setting up infrastructure where the results are showing clearly on fitness and diet among other things, he said.
"With more exposure to the newer things happening around the world, I think it is reflecting rather well," Tendulkar signed off.
