Mastery not mystery keeps Yuzvendra Chahal relevant

Kolkata: At 9:18 pm on Wednesday came the moment most, if not all, of Chepauk was waiting for. The roar, that once had Andre Russell cupping his ears only half in jest, at the sight of MS Dhoni walking out drowned out disappointment at the end of Sam Curran’s fighting knock of 88 that had given Chennai Super Kings (CSK) hope in a must-win match.

Dhoni top-edged for four the first ball he faced and when, some three minutes later, he hit Yuzvendra Chahal over long-off, Chennai felt like the fortress it once was for CSK.

To say that Chahal was up against it would be understating the obvious. For slow over-rate, Punjab Kings (PBKS) could not give him the protection of five fielders outside the circle. Dew made gripping the ball difficult. Just what you wouldn’t want if you bowling leg-spin is what helps you pay bills. With Dhoni, Shivam Dube, whose strike rate against spinners was 155.35 last year and 176.47 in 2023 as per ESPNCricinfo, was at the crease. This was the innings’ 19th over and CSK could have gone berserk.

Instead, Chahal triggered a collapse that scotched CSK’s slender hopes of a play-off berth. “I wanted to play with the batters’ minds,” he told the official broadcasters at the innings break. Every bowler does that. Those who have played chess at a reasonably high level possibly do it better. Guess what was on his mind? Taking wickets, he said.

So, the next ball was a leg-break outside the off-stump and it was slower than the first delivery. Dhoni could not clear the fence. Deepak Hooda was also enticed with a slower leg-break outside off and was caught at point. Maybe, things would have been different had Dube been on strike refusing Hooda’s call for two. But on such margins T20 matches turn.

Chahal switched his line to middle-stump for Anshul Kamboj and disturbed his furniture with a faster, straighter delivery. Noor Ahmed was again forced to reach the ball and Chahal’s hattrick was complete. True, that they were not specialist batters but you can only bowl at who is in front of you. What Chahal showed in that over was variation in pace and line.

“We didn’t play the last four deliveries, and the second last over, four batters got out. In close games, those seven deliveries mean a lot,” said Dhoni as CSK lost by four wickets . “That (Chahal’s over) actually put the brakes on them,” said PBKS coach Ricky Ponting. “They could have got sort of 220 or 210…”

Chahal is only the second bowler to have taken four-for twice this season going into Thursday’s match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians. With 13 wickets from 10 matches, he is seventh in the race for the Purple Cap, not bad for someone who had two wickets from his first five games.

Only Harshal Patel has bowled fewer balls (162) than Chahal’s 174 among the 10 most successful bowlers in IPL18. He has two IPL hattricks, only Amit Mishra has more. No one barring Josh Hazlewood, Prasidh Krishna and Patel has a better strike rate than Chahal’s 13.38 this term.

Chahal’s figures on Wednesday were 3-0-32-4, 16 runs coming in one over when Curran and Dewald Brevis hit him out of the attack. But his best this season has been 4/28 which helped PBKS defend the lowest total in IPL history.

That night too there was dew but Chahal, IPL’s most successful bowler with 218 wickets, continued to try and spin the ball and vary his pace. KKR were 62/2, chasing 112 to win and go top of the table, when Chahal took out Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh. From 98% favourites to win, the defending champions lost by 16 runs.

Unlike most spinners in IPL, Chahal, 34, does not look to bowl fast and use the bounce (Krunal Pandya bowled a bouncer in the IPL opener this time). Unlike Varun Chakravarthy or Rashid Khan, he does not rely overmuch on googlies. Chahal is not afraid to give the ball air and he is not afraid to try and impart spin. His stock deliveries are slower than 80kmph but control over line and length makes Chahal difficult to hit.

Along with skipper Shreyas Iyer and fast bowler Arshdeep Singh, Chahal is part of the spine of the team, said Ponting of the player PBKS paid ₹18 crore for in the auction last year. “He will be more a part of that as the tournament goes on.”