Found four fractures in my finger while wringing out a wet towel: Yuzvendra Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal. (Photo: IANS)

Yuzvendra Chahal, the Indian leg-spinner, said that he once found that his fingers had four fractures. The tweaker got the shocker when he was wringing out a wet towel. He put forth the importance of his fingers and also said that he once played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a fractured finger. Chahal is currently a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the T20 event.

The 29-year-old made the revelations on ‘Double Trouble’, which is Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues’ web show. Poonam Yadav, the Indian women’s leg-spinner, also featured on the show, which has also hosted the likes of Rohit Sharma, Sania Mirza and PV Sindhu.

We are the ones to climb Mount Everest: Yuzvendra Chahal

“I found out later that I had four fractures. I have even played IPL with a fracture. Our fingers are very important for us. If they stop working, we will have to start working outside the ground,” Chahal was quoted as saying during the chat.

Chahal and Yadav also revealed why they picked the art of leg-spin as their area of specialisation. “Everyone goes for the easy things,” Poonam said. “Everyone takes the stairs but we are the ones to climb Mount Everest,” Chahal added.

Chahal, said that being short-heighted gives them an advantage, being leg-spinners. He talked about the hardships of being a tall leggie. Moreover, he said that had he been tall, he would have opted for medium pace bowling. Chahal currently has 100 IPL wickets for the Challengers in 84 matches.

“Someone who is 6ft tall will not have that flight during spinning that we can take advantage of. You have more options of using the crease. A tall spinner’s hand will always come down, it can’t stay up. When a leg spinner dismisses a batsman, notice a pattern of leg-spinning in the wickets.

“I’m happy with my height if I would have been taller than I would have dreamt about becoming a medium pacer,” he added.

Amidst the lockdown period due to the coronavirus, the players have been finding out their own ways of practising. Poonam came up with one such tactic where she uses a couple of bricks as dumbbells.