Chance for bench, says Virat Kohli

Kanpur: Having led Yuzvendra Chahal and Parveez Rasool in the Indian Premier League, skipper Virat Kohli feels that three-match T20 series against England will provide perfect opportunity to the duo to establish themselves as “specialists” in the shortest format.

A good show by Rasool and Chahal may also lessen the workload on world’s premier spinner R. Ashwin. “The guys who have come in have done pretty well in the IPL, in the domestic T20s. The areas they are bowling in are pretty good and are pretty economical. Yuzvendra, everyone has seen his performances, even Rasool played under me at RCB,” Kohli said.

“It is probably a breakthrough series for them. They haven’t played a big series yet so this might be the perfect opportunity to seal their spots as T20 specialist spinners for the future,” Kohli made it clear as to what is there in stake for youngsters. About Rasool, the skipper said that he has an ability to bowl with the new ball.

“He (Rasool) is pretty confident, he can bowl with the new ball against the most attacking guys. These two guys are very smart about their bowling. I am sure they will able to replicate their domestic success at this level.” The series is also big break for the likes of Rishabh Pant, Mandeep Singh along with veterans Ashish Nehra and Suresh Raina. “I think Raina still has a lot to offer. He has not played in a while because there have not been too many limited overs series since the World T20. We played a lot of Test matches in between so it seems there is a bit of a gap.”