In three seasons with Mumbai Indians, Yuzvendra Chahal was mostly seen giggling, playing pranks in the dugout and carrying drinks from there. Then, in 2014, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought him for USD16,000. In the next two seasons, he was RCB’s leading wicket-taker. This February, he recorded the best T20I bowling figures by an Indian, when he scalped six against England.
He doesn’t have a mystery ball. No weird action. He scurries to the crease and bowls, mostly, a leg-break. The turn isn’t alarming. But his accuracy, at least over the last year, has been awesome. In the last match against Delhi Daredevils, all his 16 deliveries to the right handers were on a good length and on the stumps. To the left-handers, he bowled, except one delivery, on a good length, outside off. No batsmen could manage a strike-rate of over 100 against him in RCB’s last two games. Rishabh Pant, who scored a 36-ball 57 in the DD-RCB game, could manage only five runs off the eight balls he faced off Chahal.
But to curb tonight’s opposition skipper Glenn Maxwell at Indore might be tough. Against Rising Pune Supergiant in the same venue on Saturday, he took 20 balls to score 44. Five of them were dots. Imran Tahir, in the game, would’ve had a sub-six economy rate if Maxwell didn’t muscle him for two sixes.
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