Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal Not Afraid Of Making Tactical Changes: Rohit Sharma

India opener Rohit Sharma on Friday showered accolades on India's new spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal for not being afraid of making tactical changes and adapting to match situations. The Virat Kohli-led team is all set to play New Zealand in the three-match ODI series starting October 22 and both the spinners are again expected to play a key role against the visting side.

"They've definitely grown from the last time they made their way into the team till now. I think there has been immense improvement in their confidence. They just go out there and do their thing and they are not afraid of making tactical changes," said Rohit when asked how much have the duo grown in stature.

Chinaman Kuldeep and leggie Chahal have become indispensable to the Indian side after their stupendous show against West Indies and Sri Lanka and were preferred ahead of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, first against Australia and now versus New Zealand.

The 22-year-old Kuldeep, from Kanpur, grabbed nine wickets in the ODI series against Australia while Haryana-born Chahal picked up seven wickets in the same series.

Rohit said both Chahal and Kuldeep have adapted according to the conditions and match situations.

"They are not afraid to flight the ball and go for wickets, which is important in this format, especially because they bowl in middle overs. The grounds are not so big here, and sometimes you will be in two minds whether you want to flight the ball or restrict the opposition. But they understand the game," Rohit said.

"And if they feel that they should not go for wickets, just try and restrict, bowl a few dot balls and create pressure, they are ready to do that as well."

Kuldeep entered the record books by becoming the third Indian to take a hat-trick in ODIs, when he achieved the feat against Australia in Kolkata to follow the footsteps of Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma.

"For us as a team, we really rely on those two guys to do the job in the middle overs. And they have done exceedingly well in the last series. We saw that it was pretty evident that whenever the ball was given to them, they came up with some or the other tactical plan and got rid of their set batsman which is very important," said Rohit.

"To get crucial breakthroughs in the middle overs is very important. They have done that and from here now, they will keep growing as individuals and as players also. The more matches they play their confidence will only grow. And that's been pretty evident as we saw," he said.

Rohit also pointed out how well Kuldeep and Chahal complemented each other.

"The best is, like I said, they complement each other.

They share their tactics and what one feels about his bowling.

And they have spoken about that I think. And they do that while they bowl. So it gives them confidence," he said. The star Mumbai batsman said that from now on the spin duo would only grow as they play more matches.

"So, in their bowling they are quite versatile. That's something that I have noticed. And it will come only with confidence. And like I said, the more matches they play, they will keep growing as players," he said.

(With PTI inputs)