South Africa vs India: Sunil Gavaskar likens Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal to 'artist' Shane Warne

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar on Tuesday (February 13) said he is excited to see India's new-found spin twins -- Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in action.

The batting legend heaped praise on the wrist spinners, saying they reminded him of "artist" Shane Warne when they set up batsmen with their "fearless" approach.

Kuldeep and Chahal continued their fine run in the fifth ODI on Tuesday in Port Elizabeth, picking up six wickets between them to help India register a 73-run over South Africa. Virat Kohli thereby became the first Indian captain and only the second Asian skipper after Misbah-ul-Haq in 2013 to win a bilateral ODI series in the "Rainbow Nation".

"I have seen some wonderful spinners. Abdul Qadir, for example. He was fantastic as a leg spinner. Shane Warne was another. I didn't play against him, but he was an artist. He set batsmen up. I think this is exactly what these two spinners [Kuldeep and Chahal] are trying to do, trying to set batsmen up," Gavaskar said during a post-match analysis show on Sony Ten 1 television channel on Tuesday.

"Comparisons obviously are odious as guys are from different eras, different generation. But these two guys are two of the most exciting young spinners," he added.

"What you see is the fearlessness of youth. They are not afraid to toss the ball up, unafraid to experiment.

"They might get hit like they did at the Wanderers the other day. Even today [Tuesday], the odd over was expensive. But they are always, every single ball, trying to get a wicket. That's very exciting."

Spin twins decimate South Africa

Kuldeep and Chahal's combined tally of 30 in the ongoing six-match series is already the highest number of wickets taken by Indian spinners in a bilateral series, going past the tally of 27 Harbhajan Singh and co. picked up during England tour of India in 2006.

Also, Kuldeep now holds the record for the most ODI wickets by a spinner in South Africa in a series as he went past Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, who had picked up 14 during a tri-series in 1998.

Such has been the wrist spinner's dominance that South African batting unit inevitably collapses once Kohli introduces spin into the attack. Even after five ODIs, the host batsmen, including experienced campaigners David Miller and JP Duminy, are struggling to read the spinners. 

The hosts were in danger of being whitewashed by India as they had lost the first three matches. However, they managed a win in the rain-affected fourth ODI in Johannesburg on Saturday, February 10.