Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar came down heavily on India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for bowling a no-ball during the 4th ODI against South Africa at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. Chahal cleaned up South African batsman David Miller only to find out that he has overstepped his mark that turned out to be decisive in the context of the match that India eventually went on to lose by five wickets via DLS method.
“For me, it was that no-ball, where David Miller was clean bowled, and the way he recovered from it. That, for me, was the turning point. Till then, India seemed to be in control, they had also seen the back of AB de Villiers, who was batting well. When Miller was struggling to read Yuzvendra Chahal, India were certainly in the driver’s seat” he said.
“So clearly, I think there’s little bit of lack of professionalism there. Maybe a little bit of relaxation after the 3-0 situation and the South Africans took full advantage of it. They batted brilliantly after that, Miller batted brilliantly, (Heinrich) Klaasen was outstanding, (Andile) Phehlukwayo came in and smashed it,” he added.
“I will be perfectly honest. In modern-day cricket, with all the technology available, nobody should be bowling no balls. One can understand bowling a wide, down the leg side because that (wide rule) is a very strict interpretation. There should ideally bowl no wides on the offside also,” said the 68-year-old.
“Fast bowlers can sometimes overstep. However, because its 50-over cricket, because there is a free hit after the no ball, I don’t think fast-bowlers should also be bowling no-balls. They, after all, use a lot of tapes to measure from here to there (run-up distance) and then how does a no ball come through,” he further added.
