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

India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal said playing under Virat Kohli was a big boost to his confidence, adding that the former captain never imposed his ideas on him. Chahal said Kohli’s confidence made it easy for him to execute his plan on the field.

Yuzvendra Chahal, who had been a key member of the Royal Challengers Bangloare franchise over the years, played under Kohli since 2014. Chahal picked up 139 wickets in 113 matches during his RCB stint in the IPL. At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which has shorter boundaries than most venues in India, Chahal mastered the art of leg-spin bowling, playing a key role in RCB’s success over the years.

IPL 2022 Auction: Full list of players

Stressing that Kohlli was always a supportive captain, Chahal said the former RCB skipper always allowed 2 plans and the fist one out of them was the leg-spinner’s whenever he came onto bowl.

“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.

Unlike in 2018, Chahal was not retained by RCB ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. RCB went for Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj as their three picks for retention.

I WOULD LOVE TO GO BACK TO RCB: CHAHAL

Ahead of the mega auction, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13, Chahal said he would love to go back to RCB but stressed that he is open to playing for any franchise that bids the highest for him.

“The journey for eight years has been memorable. There is no right to match [which the franchise used to retain him in 2018] this time, so I will go to whoever pays the most for me. This is the first time where I might end up going to another team because there is no right to match.

“I am ready to go to any team. As a professional player, you should be ready to play for any team.

“Obviously, I want to go to RCB again. But I won’t feel bad if I go somewhere else. All of them have to build new teams. Whoever takes me, I have no problem. I will continue to give my 100 per cent,” he added.

Chahal has listed himself for a base price of Rs 2 crore as the BCCI released the shortlist of the players who will go under the hammer in the IPL auction earlier this week.