From struggle to success, Rahul Chahar turns his season upside down

Rahul Chahar in Punjab Kings’ first game of IPL 2024: 4-0-33-1

Rahul Chahar in Punjab Kings’ ninth game of IPL 2024: 4-0-33-1

The bowling figures might be the same, but a lot has changed between these two matches for Rahul Chahar and Punjab Kings. 

Chahar had a false start to the season, picking only two wickets in the first three matches. He had also taken the brunt of a high-scoring first half of the season, going at 11.4 runs per over. 

The 24-year-old didn’t fulfill any purpose you would expect from the premier leg-spinner of a T20 side. He was neither slowing down the opposition nor taking wickets. In PBKS’ second fixture, he bowled only one over against Bangalore, going for 16 runs and three against Lucknow. 

Even during his 1/33 in the first match, his economy rate of 8.3 was on par with the run rate in the game. 

Chahar was dropped for five matches. Punjab played four of them at their new home venue in Mullanpur, the ground with the best economy rate for spinners. 

Yet, owing to poor form, Chahar was not considered, and Punjab lost all four of them. 

Punjab next played Kolkata at the Eden Gardens, where they brought Chahar back. The 24-year-old responded with figures of 1/33 again, but now, with much more conviction. 

To begin with, it was the game where Punjab recorded the highest successful run chase in the history of T20 cricket. The average run rate in the contest was 13.6. Kolkata had posted 261 on the board. 

It could have been more had Chahar not slowed KKR in the middle overs with his spell of 1/33. He dismissed the threatening Sunil Narine for 71 off 32 balls. Moreover, Chahar was Punjab’s most economical bowler, with his economy of 8.3 turning out to be 4.8 runs, less than Kolkata’s run rate. 

Overall, Chahar now has figures of 6/72 in 12 overs. He has completed his four-over quota every time, slowing the opposition as well as picking wickets. It is like he has flicked on a switch during his break from the game. 

In the away fixture against CSK, he snapped 2/16 with the wickets of two key batters — Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali. In the reverse fixture today, Chahar once again left CSK handicapped with figures of 3/23. He sent back two of CSK’s pillars against spin bowling this season – Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube. 

To make it even better, he got them off his first two deliveries, bringing CSK down from 69/1 in seven overs to 69/3. Later, he returned to pouch Mitchell Santner, who was looking to strike big.

It is no coincidence that in each of these three matches, Chahar has been Punjab’s most economical bowler.  

Chahar has achieved all this while bowling the tough overs. He is either bowling to the spin hitters in the middle or death overs. He bowled the 19th over against MS Dhoni in Chennai and conceded only three runs. 

“Chahar has come back into the team really well. We tried something different in the 19th over. He showed confidence and to bowl to MS was great,” said the PBKS stand-in skipper, Sam Curran after the win against CSK on Wednesday (May 1). 

Punjab fumbled their chase today, busting their winning streak against CSK. However, with another impressive spell from Rahul Chahar, they have some positives to look at, even when the season is going south with this loss. 

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