Credit: ICC
On July 23, 1990, Team India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was born to KK Chahal and Sunita Devi in Jind, Haryana. Chahal is the only player to represent India in both chess and cricket. In 2002, at the age of 12, he represented India in the 16th National Children’s Chess Championship, held in Kolkata. However, he relinquished the game and moved to cricket. In October 2009, he broke into domestic cricket for Haryana in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game against Delhi. His notable performance came for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016, where he bagged 21 wickets in 13 matches at an economy of 8.15.
His scintillating IPL performance attracted the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) attention as he got selected for the Zimbabwe tour for the limited-over series. In his maiden One-Day International (ODI) match against Zimbabwe in Harare, he took 1/27 figures in his 10 overs. The same month, he also made his T20 International (T20I) debut against Zimbabwe. His best T20I performance came in February 2017 against England in Bengaluru. The spin wizard grabbed 6/25 figures in his four-over spell and helped India hammer the English team by 75 runs. In January 2019, he recorded his best ODI bowling figures of 6/42 against Australia in Melbourne.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s IPL career
Yuzvendra Chahal made his IPL debut in 2013 for Mumbai Indians (MI) against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the iconic Eden Gardens. In 2014, he became part of RCB but his best performance came in 2016. With 21 wickets in 13 games, he ended up as the second-highest wicket-taker in the competition.
After serving RCB for seven years from 2014 to 2021, he donned the Rajasthan Royals (RR) jersey in 2022. Playing his maiden season in RR colours, he clinched 27 wickets in 17 matches and became the Purple Cap winner. Currently, he is a part of Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the cash-rich league. Chahal is also the leading wicket-taker in IPL, claiming 221 wickets in 174 contests at an economy of 7.96.
