India vs New Zealand: Virat Kohli hails spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal
Mumbai: Skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday hailed India's rotation policy for helping unearth his side's potent new spin attack of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.
The batsman said giving younger and more inexperienced players a go was crucial as India try to build the strongest squad possible for the 2019 World Cup.
"We are giving chances to guys who we think have the ability to perform at this level," Kohli said ahead of the opening one-day international against New Zealand in Mumbai.
"It is something we need to experiment with, to find our best bowling combination before we can reach the World Cup stage," he added.
Kohli lavished praise on 22-year-old Kuldeep and Chahal, 27, for grasping the opportunity they had been given with both hands.
The duo have established themselves as India's latest attacking combination in recent weeks, keeping veterans Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja out of the team.
Kuldeep has quickly emerged as one of the world's best slow bowlers since taking four wickets in his Test debut against Australia in Dharamsala in March.
He also played a big role in India's recent 4-1 ODI series victory over Australia, taking a hat-trick in the second match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Kuldeep has been well supported by Chahal, who tormented the Australians with his deceptive leg spinners to bag six wickets in four matches.
"It's a combination of... giving guys chances as well as understanding the workload of bowlers who have played a for a while," said Kohli.
"Ashwin and Jadeja have played for the last six, seven years limited-overs cricket for us regularly. These youngsters have stepped up. It creates a strong pool for us before the World Cup," he added.
India, ranked second in the world in 50-overs cricket, play the first of three ODIs against New Zealand at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. They can regain the top spot from South Africa if they win the series 3-0. The second ODI takes place in Pune on Wednesday, with the third in Kanpur on October 29.
