Yuzvendra Chahal had entered India's five-match T20I series against South Africa on the back of a stupendous IPL 2022, where he was the leading wicket-taker with 27 wickets in 17 matches at an economy rate of 7.75. But in Delhi and Cuttack, Chahal conceded 0/26 in 2.1 overs and 1/49 in four overs respectively, with South Africa batters, especially Heinrich Klassen on Sunday, hitting him easily for boundaries.


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However, at Visakhapatnam, Chahal went back to his strengths as a leg-spinner: varying his pace, using more of a flatter trajectory (sometimes wide lines) and leg-breaks to get Rassie van der Dussen and Dwaine Pretorius while going for the cut. He then followed it up by getting Klassen, his long-time nemesis, with a wide outside the off-stump delivery which the right-hander miscued to extra cover.


In his allotted four overs, Chahal pick 3/20, including 11 dot balls, and bag the Player of the Match award in India's 48-run win, their first of this series.


Interestingly, Chahal celebrated all his wickets in the third T20I by raising his finger accompanied by a big smile. Revealing the reason behind the soft celebration, Chahal said he doesn't want to show his aggression unless provoked by the batter.


"Ab toh thodi umar ho gayi toh jab tak koi batsman ungli nahi karta toh wo agrression nahi nikalta. (I'm more mature now so don't show my aggression unless a batter provokes me). It's just a normal celebration for a wicket. There are friends who are batting at the other end, and don't want to show aggression for no reason," Chahal told Ruturaj Gaikwad during a light-hearted chat session.


Watch the video here:



Meanwhile, Chahal also revealed how he redeemed his bowling from the previous two games.


"I bowled a lot of sliders and bowled quicker in the previous matches. Today, I changed my seam position. Spinning and getting the ball to dip are my strengths. Today I tried to get it to turn and bowl slower. I tried to bowl to my strengths, I focused on that," said Chahal in a post-match presentation.


"When batters try to reverse-sweep, it becomes tough for the bowlers. But now I have a second plan and set fields accordingly. I didn't bowl well in the previous game, the coach asked me to back my strengths. The ground there (Rajkot) is bigger," he added.


India have opened their account in the five-match T20I series with this win in the do-or-die clash. With the series still 2-1 in favour of the visitors, the fourth T20I will be played on Friday at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Gujarat.