Rajasthan Royals’ ace spinner Yuzvendra Chahal picked up his 200th wicket and became the first player do so in the IPL tournament. Yuzvendra Chahal achieved this feat while playing against Mumbai Indians at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Mohammad Nabi on the third delivery of the 8th over as he bowled a conventional leg-spin delivery on the middle and leg. Nabi flicked it, but it ended up in Chahal’s hands.
Yuzvendra Chahal has played 153 IPL matches and picked up 200 wickets at an economy of 7.70. His best is 5/40. In his IPL career, Yuzvendra Chahal has picked a fifer once and 4-wickets haul for six times. While in the ongoing IPL 2024, Chahal has played 8 matches and picked up 13 wickets at an economy of 8.26. His best figures in this season is 3/11. He is just below Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah, who picked up the same number of wickets but have better economy of 5.96. His best is 5/21.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s early career in IPL
Rajasthan Royals leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has become the first bowler in the history of IPL to reach the mark of 200 wickets. Yuzvendra Chahal got to the milestone when he dismissed Mohammad Nabi of Mumbai Indians (MI) in Jaipur on Monday. Yuzvendra Chahal, who went past Dwayne Bravo as the highest wicket-taker in IPL history last season, created the record in his 153rd match. It was, however, an expensive evening for Chahal where he picked 1 for 48 off his four overs.
Chahal was first signed up by Mumbai Indians in 2011 but only made his IPL debut in 2013. That was the only game he played for the Mumbai franchise in the IPL, going wicketless across four overs against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens.
He was then acquired by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2014, and that’s where his IPL career really took off. Chahal played 113 matches for RCB from 2014 to 2021, and picked up 139 wickets at an average of 22.03 and an impressive economy rate of 7.58. He still remains the highest wicket-taker for RCB in the IPL. However, he was not retained by RCB ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction and was picked for INR 6.5 crore by Royals.
Chahal has represented Royals since 2022. He bagged 27 wickets at an economy of 7.75 for them during their run to the IPL final that year, including his only five-for in the IPL so far – 5 for 40 against KKR. Three of those wickets were part of a hat-trick – he got Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi and Pat Cummins in what was a four-wicket over, with Venkatesh Iyer dismissed earlier. Chahal has 13 wickets so far in IPL 2024, and sits at the top of the list along with Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel.
Former RCB teammate now turned commentator Ab De Villiers showed glimpses of Yuzvendra journey with RCB and also expressed how the franchise was wrong in releasing this class leg spinner in the ranks.
It was crazy that RCB got left Yuzvendra Chahal out of the franchise- AB de Villiers
Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers and veteran Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal spent eight seasons together at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) before the latter was released by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2022 Mega Auction.
De Villiers has been pretty vocal about how RCB should have never let Chahal go and he reiterated this when the latter became the first bowler in the history of the IPL to take 200 wickets. Chahal completed the feat when he dismissed Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder Mohammad Nabi on Monday, April 22.
In a video on his YouTube channel, here’s what AB de Villiers had to say about watching Yuzvendra Chahal play for a team that wasn’t RCB
“RCB let him go. It was a heartbreaking moment. He was a part of the furniture there and also their best bowler. It was crazy that he got left out of that franchise. It’s not easy looking at Yuzi go to 200 wickets and him not being a part of RCB.”
Chahal is enjoying a sensational IPL 2024 season with 13 wickets from eight games so far and is behind Jasprit Bumrah on the Purple Cap list only because of the latter’s better economy rate.
Mike Hesson on RCB letting Yuzvendra Chahal go
Former RCB director of cricket operations, Mike Hesson, opened up on why the franchise chose not to retain Yuzvendra Chahal during the IPL 2022 mega auction.
Hesson shed light on the retention dynamics and how Chahal’s late entry into the auction meant that they couldn’t risk missing out on Sri Lankan wrist-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga. On this, he told Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinema:
“It was one of those things where if you only retain three players, you give yourself an extra 4 crore in the auction. Then the order of the auction came up and Yuzvendra Chahal was at no. 65. After Yuzi there was no other spinner we were interested in. We were obviously interested in Hasaranga as another option if we did not get Yuzi. So we bid for him upfront and then once we got Hasaranga that meant we could not go for Yuzi,”
Hesson accepted that not bringing Chahal back to RCB would be one of his major regrets even after the former called time on his professional career. The veteran leg-spinner is currently enjoying his time at the Rajasthan Royals, who are on top of the IPL 2024 points table.