Yuzvendra Chahal shredded as 'defensive bowling' called out vs SunRisers Hyderabad: ‘Just not trying to get batter out’

Yuzvendra Chahal ‘defensive bowling’ called out as spinner lambasted for not having an attacking approach against Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma.

Punjab Kings' spinner Yuzvendra Chahal might be the leading wicket-taker in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, the ace leg-spinner has looked a pale shadow of his old self in the ongoing 18th edition of the T20 tournament. Chahal has managed to take just two wickets in five fixtures. In the contest against SunRisers Hyderabad on Saturday, Chahal constantly bowled wide deliveries to escape being hit for boundaries and sixes.

Yuzvendra Chahal's defensive approach called out. (REUTERS)

Piyush Chawla has now called out Chahal's defensive approach. The Indian leg-spinner did get the better of Travis Head on Saturday, but he conceded more than 50 runs in his quota of four overs.

SunRisers Hyderabad ended up chasing down 246 with eight wickets in hand and nine balls to spare as Abhishek Sharma played a 141-run knock off 55 balls. Travis Head also played a useful innings of 66 off 37 balls.

Piyush Chawla feels Chahal has been playing a "safe game", and this doesn't hold him in good stead as he is an attacking spinner, and all of his success has come when he has looked to take wickets.

Speaking on ESPNCricinfo's 'TimeOut', Chawla said, "Well, he created that chance (drop chance of Abhishek Sharma) and you need at least one chance, and he created that one and he has nobody else to blame for that. He almost reached there but apart from that… later on when both the batters [Abhishek and Travis Head] were going after him, I didn't find that Yuzvendra Chahal which we used to see a couple of years back and even till last year," said Chawla.

"He was just not trying to get the batter out. He was just trying to toss it wide and playing more of a safe game, defensive bowling. That Yuzvendra Chahal we have not seen. I have not seen him bowling googlies also. If you're bowling wide outside off stump for them [left-hand batters] and it's going away from there, so you eventually get a chance to get a wicket or something like that," he added.

Chawla feels Chahal had the perfect chance of being attacking against SunRisers as Punjab Kings had more than 240 runs on the board at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

“If you see this season, he has bowled some 14-15 [15] overs and he's not bowled his four [overs] quite often, and he's conceding more than 11-12 runs in a season at the moment, which [makes] you feel you want to play a defensive game,” said Chawla.

“You just want to get your four overs in and then try to pick up a wicket. But today, I felt it was the day when you have 245 runs on the board, any which way you're going for runs, so you should better try for wickets and if you pick up those couple of wickets, then you are in the game,” he added.

'Not trying to get the batter out'

Chahal, who was picked up in the mega auction for INR 18 crore, has been conceding runs at an economy rate of 11.13. He has also not completed his full quota of four overs in three matches.

Wasim Jaffer believes Chahal's focus should be on bowling more googlies rather than looking to stay away from the hitting arc and conceding an economical spell.

"I think the few deliveries that he bowled when he picked up Travis Head's wicket, that is what we need to see Yuzvendra Chahal bowl more often," Wasim Jaffer said.

“You're looking to spin the ball, looking to bowl googly, looking to put some revs on the ball, which I think we are missing from watching Yuzi. He is very defensive in his mindset and the pressure is pretty much visible on his face that, you know, he's off colour. But you know for Punjab to become good, he's the main puzzle that they need to solve,” he added.