Virat Kohli never tried to change me, his confidence boosted me – Yuzvendra Chahal

India’s leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has showered praise on former captain Virat Kohli. Chahal revealed that Kohli always backed him as a spinner and gave him the field he wanted and motivated the leg-spinner to bowl according to his strength and plans.

Chahal admitted that this gave him a lot of confidence and he grew as a leg-spinner after he was backed to the hilt by his captain. Chahal played under the leadership of Virat Kohli for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and also while playing for the national side in the limited-overs format.

The leg-spinner was one of RCB’s most successful bowlers as scalped 139 wickets in 113 matches at an average of 22.28 and an economy rate of 7.59. Out of the 114 matches he has played in the IPL, 113 come for RCB while he made his debut for Mumbai Indians but played a solitary match for them.

“I realised that he [Kohli] had a lot of positive energy. He never tried to change me, he never asked me to bowl this way or that way. We always had two plans, and the first plan was always mine. He would tell me, ‘You plan the way you want to bowl.’ It helped me because I have to bowl, so it helped to think about it, [and] get the field I wanted,” Chahal said during a chat with R Ashwin in the latter’s YouTube channel.

“Sometimes I told him to set whatever field he wanted, so he said, ‘Okay, I will make a couple of changes, you bowl the way you want’. That gives you confidence when a big player – your captain – supports you.

“In some matches when I gave away runs, he would come running from the boundary to tell me, ‘No problem, you carry on, you will bounce back’. So that boosts you,” he added.

Meanwhile, RCB decided to retain Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj before the auction. Chahal stated that he would love to go back to RCB but he will be ready to play for any other team if his former franchise don’t buy him back in the upcoming mega auction, which will take place in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13.