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RCB legend Yuzvendra Chahal in pink of health with RR
Don’t let his playful ways off the field fool you, the India leg-spinner and once RCB star is on course to become IPL’s all-time highest wicket-taker
Quite often, Yuzvendra Chahal’s clownish behaviour overshadows his chess mindset. So what if he was a professional chess player before taking to cricket. It gets overlooked that every wicket he gets in an unforgiving format for bowlers is the outcome of a plan that requires cunning and disguise.
His thin frame and merry ways off-field generate more attention. So much so that after another productive outing (4-0-17-4) in Rajasthan Royals’ successful tournament opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday, skipper Sanju Samson pointed to Chahal’s presence making a difference, for being a ‘chilled kind of guy’ who would bring ‘people in his room to sit late night, till 1 and 2’. At the presentation, Chahal was asked if he had any new wicket celebrations in store.
CRICKET SMARTS
Chahal is much more though with ball in hand it may appear he’s entertaining the world with his brand of silliness. Like how he strangled the attacking Harry Brook, making his already miserable stay at the crease worse. The explosive Brook couldn’t break free as he went from 10 (16b) to 13 (20b). After tossing one up, Chahal pulled back his length, bowled it quicker and straighter, and Brook missed his cut to see the zing bails disturbed.
To Mayank Agarwal, Chahal gave the ball air and got him caught at the long-off boundary. He got fellow leg-spinner Adil Rashid stumped with a classical delivery, tossing one wide, drawing him forward and beating him in flight. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had no clue as Chahal got one to turn the other way and crash into his stumps.
Against SRH, Chahal was following up on the early damage done by Trent Boult. On other days, Chahal delivers the more telling blows in the middle overs. With his four wickets on Sunday, Chahal has become the all-time joint second highest wicket-taker in IPL. Level with his bowling coach Lasith Malinga. Soon, he will move ahead. With 14 more wickets, Chahal will leave the retired Dwayne Bravo behind and occupy the top of the list.
For someone who’s done most of his bowling on the batting beauty of a M Chinnaswamy stadium pitch for Royal Challengers Bangalore, the tally should be worth a lot more. No one’s picked more wickets (51) at Bengaluru with its small boundaries than Chahal. The next spinner in the top ten is leggie Piyush Chawla, at No 8 with 15 wickets.
BOUNCE BACK
RCB let go of Chahal in the 2022 auction, trusting data that suggested Sri Lanka bowling all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga’s greater speeds would be more effective on those pitches. Even the Indian selectors seemed to agree. Chahal may be India’s highest T20I wicket-taker with 91 wickets, but the Haryana leg-spinner wasn’t picked for the 2021 T20 World Cup and didn’t get a game in the 2022 edition in Australia. Of late, Chahal hasn’t been getting much game time with good friend Kuldeep Yadav rediscovering his mojo.
But Chahal’s always found a way to bounce back, like he would when cornered on a chess board. Last year onwards, he’s taken to RR’s pink like duck to water. The leg-spinner was the purple cap holder of IPL 2022 with 27 wickets. In his tango with R Ashwin, Chahal gets to play the role of a middle-overs enforcer.
“I have had a very good partnership with Ashwin last year and we would like to continue that. We need to win games consistently and we need to work hard in every game as our goal is to not only reach the playoffs but reach the top two,” he told the broadcasters.
