Thaindian News

Bangalore, Feb 13 (IANS) Piyush Chawla may have made a strong claim for a place in the playing XI in the World Cup by taking four wickets against Australia in the warm-up match here Sunday that India won, but the leg spinner is not reading too much into his performance.

Chawla lived up to the expectations of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who strongly backed his inclusion in the squad as a third spinner.

“My place in the eleven will depend on other factors. We have quite a few good spinners. If the pitch is slow and if it helps spinners, I will have a good chance to make it,” Chawla said.

Australia, chasing 215, were cruising to victory when they were 118/2 but the momentum shifted as Chawla ran through the middle order and finally the defending champions were bundled out for 176.

“It’s a great feeling to play in front of the home crowd and against Australia. When I started to bowl in the first Powerplay, the ball was turning and I knew if I bowled well, there was something for the spinners here,” said Chawla, who was out of the ODI team for almost two years.

Chawla also took a sharp catch at mid-off to dismiss danger man Shane Watson.

“Australia was scoring at almost seven runs per over when (Shane) Watson was batting. It was a good catch for me and the team. There was turn and bounce when I was batting so I knew that there was something for spinners and I had to exploit the conditions. The wicket of (Callum) Ferguson was most satisfying. I had gully and slips and I was mixing things up,” he said.

Dhoni was particulalrly impressed with Chawla’s googly and said it was one of the reasons why be wanted him in the squad.

“A leg spinner can really trouble the batsmen. Piyush has a good googly and nowadays we see that the umpires give more lbws if the wrong one hits the pad. He turns the odd one and has a very good wrong’un. He is consistent with line and length. Also it gives you more options in bowling.”