Birthday special: Top Five spells of Yuzvendra Chahal
India’s ace leg-spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal turns 30 today (23rd July). After representing India in chess tournaments, the youngster turned to cricket and adopted the toughest skill in the game. The wrist-spinner made his ODI and T20I debut in June 2016 against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. The happy-go-lucky bowler has featured in 52 ODIs and 42 T20Is taking a total of 146 international wickets. His video segment ‘Chahal TV’ has earned him fans off the field as well. Here are his five best spells.
4/38 vs Mumbai Indians, 2019 (IPL)
This match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians at Bengaluru is remembered for the last ball being a no-ball which wasn’t given by the umpire. One may also remember that Yuvraj had struck Chahal for three consecutive sixes but perished in attempting the fourth. The leg-spinner eventually ended up with three more scalps and claimed his second four-wicket haul in the IPL. His wickets included Quinton de Kock, Yuvraj Singh, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard.
4/23 vs Sri Lanka, 2017 (T20I)
Batting first at Cuttack, India posted a healthy total of 180/3 in 20 overs. Spinning his web, Chahal killed the game by the time Sri Lanka had batted out 11 overs. He took four wickets and all were top-order batsmen. At 62/6, they had no hopes of chasing down India’s total and soon fell away at 87 all out. Chahal was named the player of the match in India’s biggest T20I victory.
5/22 vs South Africa, 2018 (ODI)
This six-match ODI series in South Africa was the high-point of Chahal’s bowling partnership with Kuldeep Yadav. The wrist-spinners together picked 33 wickets from six games. Chahal’s best occurred in the second ODI. At Centurion, he ran through the South African batting order and registered the figures of 5/22 in 8.1 overs with one maiden. South Africa folded up for 118 runs and India completed the target with almost 30 overs to spare.
6/42 vs Australia, 2019 (ODI)
With the ODI series poised at 1-1, it was crucial for India to win the third game at Melbourne. After losing two quick wickets, Australia steered towards safety with a 73-run partnership. Chahal broke the momentum and with his three scalps left the Aussies reeling at 123/5 after being 100/2. The leggie returned in the death overs and snared three more wickets. His figures of 6/42 helped India win the game by seven wickets.
6/25 vs England, 2017 (T20I)
The final leg of England’s India tour consisted of three T20Is. The visitors had lost Test and ODI series and were eager to pocket the T20I series after being 1-1 going into the Bengaluru game. Batting first, India posted 202/6. In the second innings, Chahal stepped up to bowl the second over. He sent back Sam Billings but conceded 10 runs. His next over was wicketless as well. His bowling figures at this stage were 2-0-19-1.
Coming back to bowl the 14th over, the leg-spinner took two wickets in two balls to dismiss Eoin Morgan and Joe Root. In his next over, he added three more to his tally to become the first Indian bowler to take six wickets in a T20I. England lost their last eight wickets for just eight runs and conceded a 75-run defeat.
