Top IPL wicket-taker Yuzvendra Chahal keeps foxing batters with magic and mystery field placements

Top IPL wicket-taker Chahal keeps foxing batters with magic and mystery field placements. Yuzvendra Chahal has taken 187 wickets from 144 games in IPL history.

Chahal has taken 21 wickets from 13 games in IPL 2023 (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

In this modern age of cricket where batters have taken the upper hand mostly by smashing almost every delivery all around the park by reducing their fear of getting dismissed, it’s extraordinary to sit at the top of the wicket list with a low economy, especially for a spinner like Yuzvendra Chahal who has spent most of his Indian Premier League (IPL) journey at the batting paradise named M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Chahal is not an ordinary spinner and one may need to watch him closely to truly appreciate his genius skills. Fooling the batters continuously seems to be his bread and butter trade. Amidst all the attention grabbed by the fours and sixes by young Yashasvi Jaiswal’s fastest IPL fifty against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Chahal became the tournament’s highest wicket-taker with 187 scalps in 144 games at an economy of 7.65, going ahead Dwayne Bravo’s 183 IPL wickets.

Read More: IPL 2023, KKR vs RR: Chahal, Jaiswal's carnage take Rajasthan to third spot in points table

A look at his IPL journey will speak how Chahal has constructed himself over the years while maintaining high standards.

From practicing in sugarcane yards to foxing batters: Chahal’s journey towards the top

After a few impressive first-class games, 21-year-old Haryana leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal earned his maiden IPL contract in 2011 for Mumbai Indians. The franchise didn’t give him many matches, for which he went into the auction pool for the 2014 edition of the IPL, where Chahal was picked for INR 10 lakh by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Chahal who played an integral part in their bowling line-up.

From his early days where he used to travel to the nearby sugarcane yards just to practice leg spin on the cement turfs, Chahal suddenly became RCB captain Virat Kohli’s go-to man. Even though he began the season well in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2014, once the tournament returned to India, he couldn’t get many wickets, but remained economical throughout the season. He was also a contender for the ‘Emerging Player of the Year’ award but he lost out to Axar Patel in the end.

Since then at that batting paradise and small ground of M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Chahal picked 139 wickets at an economy of 7.58 for RCB before reaching the auction table in 2022 where Rajasthan Royals (RR) signed him for INR 6.50 crore. In his maiden season for RR, he earned the purple cap with 27 wickets in 17 games and still continues to do wonders for the pink army.

Year	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy	Best	4w/5w
2023	13	21	18.67	8.03	4/17	03/00
2022	17	27	19.52	7.75	5/40	01/01
2021	15	18	20.77	7.05	3/11	00/00
2020	15	21	19.28	7.08	3/18	00/00
2019	14	18	21.44	7.82	4/38	01/00
2018	14	12	30.25	7.26	2/22	00/00
2017	13	14	23.78	7.65	3/16	00/00
2016	13	21	19.09	8.15	4/25	01/00
2015	15	23	18.04	8.86	3/40	00/00
2014	14	12	32.16	7.01	2/17	00/00
2013	01	00	00.00	8.50	0/34	00/00
All IPL	144	187	21.48	7.65	5/40	06/01

Read More: Virat Kohli and RCB: A love story made in heaven

Chahal took 4-25 against KKR and helped RR win (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

A look at the numbers of Chahal against different opponents at various grounds

A smart operator with a big heart - two of the features that paint a portrait of Yuzvendra Chahal. Generally, he loves to keep the ball in the stump line to not give the batters any freedom or space but he’s never afraid of giving the ball little air and throwing it away from the reach of the batters. The way Chahal varies his pace is another excellent skill that a very few bowlers have.

Let’s take a look at how he has played against different opponents and at different grounds.

Opponent	Matches	Wickets	Average	S/R	Economy	Best
CSK	16	18	23.33	20.00	7.00	3/40
DC	18	20	25.70	19.25	8.01	3/27
GL	05	08	19.25	14.25	8.11	3/19
GT	05	04	35.50	29.75	7.16	1/20
KKR	21	28	21.54	16.71	7.73	5/40
LSG	03	05	24.80	14.40	10.33	4/41
MI	18	25	22.28	16.56	8.07	4/38
PBKS	18	29	17.41	12.86	8.12	4/25
RR	13	18	13.61	13.50	6.05	3/24
RPSG	03	01	74.00	42.00	10.57	1/38
RCB	05	03	49.33	40.00	7.40	2/15
SRH	19	28	18.93	15.68	7.24	4/17

It’s a different challenge for players to play in different conditions and given it happens in a space of few days, it takes huge skill to adapt to the different dimension of the various grounds. Let’s take a look at how Chahal has performed in dissimilar stadiums.

Venue	Mat	Wkts	Ave	S/R	Eco	Best
MA Chidambaram	06	06	28.83	24.00	7.21	2/27
Arun Jaitley Stadium	03	04	23.25	16.50	8.45	2/28
Narendra Modi Stadium	06	05	34.00	25.40	8.03	2/25
Eden Gardens	09	09	33.00	22.67	8.74	4/25
Wankhede Stadium	13	17	23.12	16.59	8.36	4/41
Mohali	03	05	17.60	12.00	8.80	2/25
Sawai Mansingh Stadium	07	07	27.57	22.14	7.47	4/29
M Chinnaswamy	42	52	21.56	16.75	7.72	4/25
Rajiv Gandhi Stadium	06	07	24.86	18.86	7.91	4/17
United Arab Emirates	28	42	16.45	15.24	6.47	3/11
Others	21	30	20.62	14.14	7.15	5/40

Among all the spinners who have taken 100 or more wickets in the IPL, Yuzvendra Chahal has the best strike rate, i.e., 16.84. He has also played fewer games than Piyush Chawla, Amit Mishra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sunil Narine, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja, and he has more wickets than all of them.

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Chahal has most wickets in Chinnaswamy stadium (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

Let’s scan his top three performances and break the fact of how he has turned the game.

5/40 vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 2022

The game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai during IPL 2022 displayed how determined Chahal has been in making a comeback in between a game. Chasing 218 in 20 overs, KKR went off to a flying start reaching 167/4 in 15 overs as Chahal was belted all around the park for 38 runs in his first three overs including the wicket of Nitish Rana. But when he was recalled for his last over, KKR needed just 41 runs in four overs.

On the first ball of the 17th over, Chahal sent back Venkatesh Iyer before caging Shreyas Iyer plumb before the stumps, three balls later. On the very next ball, he dismissed Shivam Mavi before Sanju Samson grabbed an excellent catch as Yuzvendra Chahal picked his maiden and the 21st hat-trick in IPL. From 1/38 in three overs, Chahal finished with 5/40 to carry RR to a seven-run victory.

3/16 vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 2017

Even though the game was famous because of that unfortunate record of lowest IPL score of 49 by RCB at the Eden Gardens in 2017, Chahal claimed three crucial wickets.

Chahal began sending back Yusuf Pathan before registering the wicket of Manish Pandey who flicked the tossed-up delivery straight to the midwicket fielder. Finally, he drew Colin de Grandhomme forward to find the edge that ended in the hands of the slip fielder. Chahal returned with figures of 3/16 in four overs.

4/29 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2023

Chahal has been in really good touch in this ongoing 2023 IPL and he showed another outstanding performance against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In his very first over, he recorded the wicket of Anmolpreet Singh before managing the huge wicket of Heinrich Klassen who miscued a shot as the tossed-up ball ended in the hands of the long-off fielder. He picked two more wickets of Aiden Markram and Rahul Tripathi to finish on 4/29 in four overs in a game where more than 200 was chased thanks to a no ball on the last ball.

Yuzvendra Chahal has kept on evolving as a bowler over the years and the batters have failed to give answers to all his tricks. And he will love to carry the same momentum in the last few games of the IPL and the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 for India.

Chahal will be in action next for Rajasthan Royals (RR) who will play their last league game of the IPL 2023 against Punjab Kings on May 19 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. They need to win that game desperately to earn any chance for the playoffs spot.

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