Indian Premier League, from the very beginning, has remained brutal for the bowlers; batters get here the advantage of high scoring pitches, short boundaries, and everyone’s eagerness to see successful batting innings. Bowlers, in comparison, do not get many benefits, no green and bouncy pitch is presented for fast bowlers, nor the continental turning is in the pitch. That is why economical spells, hard-earned wickets, and maiden or maiden-wicket overs are infrequent, but bowlers are also performing well this season despite no advantages available to them.
Shane Warne captained and coached RR. This year also, the leg spinner is performing spectacularly well. Of course, they are never to be compared in any terms, but Yuzvendra Chahal, the current keeper of the purple cap, has significantly dominated even the most brutal batters this season.
Chahal’s story is not crafted on a bed of roses. Last year he was dropped from the Indian T-20 World Cup team; sources say Chahal has not forgotten that chapter. However, this year he hasn’t let the grass grow beneath his boots; his performance has won the heart of millions of cricket buffs.
Chahal has remained consistently economical, but his best performance is knitted with sheer brilliance against KKR. The match wasn’t easy for RR, KKR was chasing, and they needed forty runs in the last two overs at a point of the match; they had six wickets in hand. So in terms of T-20, this is quite a chaseable and win-win scenario.
Particularly Shreyas Iyer, the KKR skipper, was on the crease with an unbeaten 85, and it looked like KKR would be successfully chasing the score of 217. But it was Chahal! The 31-year-old match-turner got a single over to attack the opponent vigorously; he picked up four wickets in a single over and knocked his first hat-trick. This powered RR beat KKR by seven runs.
A single oversaw his outstanding form; he cleared off Venkatesh, Shreyas, Shivam, and Cummins and ended with a brilliant figure of 5/40. This was the 21st hat-trick in the league’s history, and he is the fourth RR bowler to crack a hat-trick, the others being Shane Warne (vs. SRH in 2014) and Shreyas Gopal (vs. vs. RCB in 2019), and Tambe.
It’s not a single match; instead, consistency is the key here. He is among the fastest bowlers to have picked up 150 wickets. Malinga, the RR coach, touched the milestone in 105 innings. Chahal has entered the prestigious club after 118 innings. The others who have achieved this are Bravo, Mishra, Chawla, and Harbhajan Singh. Although Chahal is preceded by his coach Malinga in RR, no one else has reached the milestone quicker than Chahal.
Malinga, as a coach, also has been happy with Chahal’s performance; he said, “Leg-spinners have more wicket-taking options, and he showed today how he could get wickets and change the game in a single over. I think he showed all the leg spinners that they are match-winning bowlers in this competition.” Malinga says his international experience helps him succeed in the league; he is also the senior-most leg spinner in the country and the league.
Millions of cricket lovers wait for every IPL match; they create their team and score points in fantasy cricket. However, building a team is not very easy in fantasy cricket; it makes the spectators watch the performances in extreme detail. There is a lot of skill and analysis involved in playing fantasy cricket and choosing players for your team. You probably would not be confused about players like Chahal; they are experienced as well as the pick of a good fantasy cricket team at the same time.
