By Kaushal Kowjalgi
Yuzvendra Chahal was a revelation in the T20 series against England. With eight wickets in three matches, he was the man-of-the-series in the three-match T20 series. The spinner who made his debut against Zimbabwe in 2016 was the bowler to look out for in absence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
The six-wicket haul from Yuzvendra Chahal brought a dramatic collapse to the England innings. From being 119 for 2 the England batting team were bowled for just 127 runs. This was the second 2nd worst collapse for a batting team. Chahal’s bowling spell allowed India to win by a huge margin of 75 runs. This is the biggest margin of win in terms of runs. This win was also the first bilateral win for India against England in a T20 series.
ICC T20I rankings: Yuzvendra Chahal vaults 92 places, Joe Root breaks into top five
In the three ODIs that Chahal has played so far, he has picked up six wickets, while in the six T20s that he has played, he has taken 11 wickets. With the best match figures of 6 for 25 in the last T20 game against England, he is the only second spinner and the first Indian to take a six-wicket haul in T20s.
Chahal is also the only player to play chess and cricket for India. His name is also listed in the World Chess Federation’s official site.
In the Indian Premiere League, Chahal was firstly signed to play for Mumbai Indians. However, he could play only one game across three seasons. In 2011, Chahal’s good bowling effort of two wickets for just nine runs in his three overs helped the Mumbai Indians to lift the Champions League title.
In 2014, Chahal was picked by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the base price of Rs 10 lakh. He impressed with a man-of-the-match winning performance against Delhi Daredevils.
So far Chahal has played 85 IPL games and he has picked up 93 wickets.
Chahal also has a decent List A record and First Class record as well.
In the 33 List A game, he has 39 wickets to his name and in the 27 first class matches, Chahal has picked up 70 wickets.
Young Yuzvendra Chahal has not played test cricket yet. But his performance in shorter formats will definitely give him a chance to represent India in the white jersey soon.
