Follow UsYuzvendra Chahal has been out of favour from the national side for a couple of years, but the IPL 2025 provided him with an excellent opportunity to correct his mistakes and get back in the reckoning. However, his performance in the ongoing season of the IPL has further pushed him down the pecking order, with just two wickets to show for in five matches at an average of 83.50 and a devastating economy of 11.13.
It was unbecoming of one of India’s premier spinners on which Punjab Kings (PBKS) spent a wholesome INR 18 crore at the auction. After his 1/56 performance against a rampant Sunrisers Hyderabad side, former Indian spinner Piyush Chawla called his performance out, stating he wasn’t the same bowler as he was a couple of years ago.
"Well, he created that chance, and you need at least one chance, and he created that one, and he has nobody to blame for that," Chawla said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show.
"He almost reached there, but apart from that… later on, when both the batters were going after him, I didn't find that Yuzvendra Chahal, which we used to see a couple of years back and even till last year. He was just not trying to get the batter out. He was just trying to toss it wide and playing more of a safe game, defensive bowling. That Yuzvendra Chahal we have not seen."
Chawla pointed out that Chahal not attempting any other variation has cost him big time.
"I have not seen him bowling googlies also. If you're bowling wide outside off stump for them [left-hand batters] and it's going away from there, so you eventually get a chance to get a wicket or something like that," Chawla said. "But he didn't bowl that, maybe because of the lack of form. If you see this season, he has bowled some 14-15 [15] overs and he's not bowled his four [overs] quite often, and he's conceding more than 11-12 runs in a season at the moment, which [makes] you feel you want to play a defensive game.
"You just want to get your four overs in and then try to pick up a wicket. But today, I felt it was the day when you have 245 runs on the board, any which way you're going for runs, so you should better try for wickets, and if you pick up those couple of wickets, then you are in the game."