Yuvraj Chudasama is six foot two inches tall however holds no love for tempo bowling.
The realisation got here early when his father, a cricket coach, launched him to the sport in Bhavnagar. “I began after I was 12. After I was youthful, I attempted to bowl tempo. I used to ask him, ‘If everybody bowls tempo, why ought to I bowl spin?’ However I came upon fairly rapidly that that was not for me,” he says.
Chudasama’s father needed him to offer left-arm wrist spin a shot. However his son settled for right-arm leg-break finally.
Together with his lanky body and broad shoulders, Chudasama’s bodily look flatters to deceive. He makes use of it the best way he can, producing further bounce together with his leg breaks. He’s good at it, too. Since 2022, he has been a internet bowler for Gujarat Titans, honing his talent shadowing Rashid Khan and Ashish Nehra.
“Virtually each huge batter has requested me to bowl to them. Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Hardik [Pandya] bhai when he was with us, even David Miller. I feel that’s as a result of my googly is nice, so that they need to play me extra,” Chudasama says.
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Web bowlers, the silent pliers in an IPL franchise’s arrange, find yourself bowling for upto three hours at a stretch, Chudasama says. Between a busy journey schedule and and little room between fixtures, managing workload turns into paramount.
“Being a internet bowler is straining. Most of the time you’re bowling a bulk of the deliveries. The primary workforce bowlers flip up solely within the closing minutes.
“Our coach may be very cool. How a lot we need to bowl, depends upon us. However on a day if I’m bowling, I find yourself bowling 15 to twenty overs throughout two to 3 hours. If, at instances, you are feeling you can’t bowl, you’ll be able to straight up inform them I need a break in the present day. He’s very chilled out that method,” Chudasama says.
However nothing thrills Chudasama extra, throughout his three-month gig with GT, than attending to play the understudy to Rashid, even when solely within the nets.
“Rashid bhai taught me to learn the batter. He instructed me that there’s not an excessive amount of that separates me from a world bowler, and that I simply have to try to see what the batter does in opposition to you. Attempt to see if the batter is of course aggressive or passive in opposition to my bowling. Simply bowl in accordance with that. Then I additionally learnt when to make use of my variation, the googly and probability of tempo. That comes with studying the match state of affairs. So this stuff matter,” he says.
Regardless of his sustained tenure with the Titans, Chudasama has been handed restricted possibilities with Saurashtra. Already 29, Chudasama has featured in simply 15 T20s. He received two video games within the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final season, one among them in opposition to Sikkim, and returned a wicket in every of the video games. Competing for a spot with Dharmendrasinh Jadeja solely makes the duty stiffer. In IPL too, he’s remained on the fringes.
The profession projectile is just not a lot better in different codecs both. He debuted for Saurashtra in 2018, in opposition to Baroda, and performed only one extra sport, in opposition to Karnataka, after that. He has two wickets to point out for throughout three innings, at a mean of 101.
Yuvraj Chudasama in motion in opposition to Gujarat within the West Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, in 2018.
| Photograph Credit score:
VIJAY SONEJI/The Hindu
Yuvraj Chudasama in motion in opposition to Gujarat within the West Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, in 2018.
| Photograph Credit score:
VIJAY SONEJI/The Hindu
Ask him about his lack of sport time, and Chudasama offers away a wry smile. His hopes now fall on the Saurashtra Professional T20 League, the place he’s enjoying for Anmol Kings Halar. From 5 matches this season, he has taken only a single wicket, however has given away solely 7.05 runs per over.
“ Kuch nahi, aur mehnat karenge, aur kya kar sakte hain (I’ll work even tougher, what else can I do). It is a platform to get into the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and you then hope you get picked by one of many franchises. That’s it,” he says.