Big Jonny had batted at 3 different positions across his last 17 T20I innings prior to Cape Town, and so when he was made to bat at a brand new position, No.4, to accommodate Buttler, Roy and Malan, Big Jonny, knowing he was being taken for granted, lost his s***.  Big Jonny wanted to send a message and so he did. 

Axing Chahal for the first T20I was seen, by many, as a shocking, knee-jerk reaction propelled by his appalling returns in the ODI series but, strictly sticking to T20Is, the leggie, in a way, had it coming. Prior to Canberra, in T20Is since after the 2019 World Cup, both Jadeja and Sundar had significantly outperformed him in all aspects - average, strike rate, economy and wickets taken - and that he couldn’t hold the bat to save his life worked against him. 

Regardless of whether it was destiny which was playing its hand, the signs were there from ball one. In his very first ball, Chahal enticed Finch, who at that point was threatening to take the game away from India, into a lofted cover drive which fell agonizingly short of the deep fielder. He got his man three balls later by performing the same exercise, albeit with some extra courage and a bit more skill, and added two more crucial scalps to his name by baiting the batsman into falling for his predictable trap. It was a mystery-less, unvarnished three-fer which mirrored every other three-fer he’s ever taken in his career, yet one which restated his importance to the side. 

It is true that Chahal does not add the same three-dimensionality a Sundar and a Jadeja do, or the mystery a Kuldeep does. But what he brings with him is a tried-and-tested recipe for success which he’s used to outwit batsmen for a good part of half a decade. Couple that with his unwavering belief and you have a weapon which will fire 8/10 times and, when it does, take the enemy down. Australia were skilled enough to mercilessly batter him on the two off-days, but even they couldn’t withstand his wrath, which, they knew, well in advance, was coming. 

At the start of this year, after being pasted for figures of 0/69 in 6 overs across two games versus the Windies and the Lankans, Chahal bounced back with a match-winning 1/32 in the first T20I versus the Kiwis, picking the crucial wicket of Kane Williamson in a game which saw 407 runs being scored. In the World Cup last year, he once again proved to be India’s most economical bowler in their penultimate group game against Bangladesh, right after he was brutally smashed for 0/88 by England in a game that would eventually turn the landscape of Indian spin-bowling around. The English onslaught broke Kuldeep, but Chahal stayed intact and has continued to thrive; a lot can be attributed to his success, but what has stood out is his bravery and self-belief. 

And those were the two traits which ultimately won India the game on Friday. A conjecture, yes, but one wonders if the duo of Sundar and Jadeja, despite their overflowing quality with the ball, would have succeeded in defending 161. Seldom do teams defend sub-165 totals without the impetus to attack and, perhaps in what ended up being a blessing in disguise, India were able to throw the ball to their trump card, their biggest risk-taker when they needed it the most. 

The Canberra match reaffirmed a lot of facts that seem to be forgotten, not least that Chahal is an x-factor, but for the leg-spinner, it was also a reality check. That the captain no longer considers him the first choice in T20s, with a year left for the World Cup, does not bode too well for him, and that his competitor - Washington Sundar - holds an edge over him in the form of batting means that he no longer can afford to slip up. It is one thing to send timely reminders, it is another to sustain excellence; Chahal has done the former, it is now time for him to move on to the latter.