The trajectory of Yuzvendra Chahal’s career is peculiar. Up until recently, he was India’s top wicket-taker in T20 Internationals (96 wickets), and no Indian player has ever taken more wickets in T20 cricket than his 377. Despite being a member of the extended squad for the 2022 and 2024 campaigns, he is yet to play for India in a T20 World Cup match. Although he was the dominant spinner in the run-up to the event, he missed the 2021 edition, where five other spinners overtook him. His exclusion was justified by the fact that, in comparison to those who made the cut for the slower wickets in the UAE, he was comparatively slower over the air.
After the IPL 2022, Chahal found a new home with the Rajasthan Royals, partnered with R Ashwin, and was free from the Chinnaswamy’s restrictions. He finished the season with a record 27 wickets, which remains the joint most by a spinner in a single IPL edition, earning him the Purple Cap. In his RCB days, he was a bowler who mostly outsmarted the batsmen by avoiding their hitting arc or cramped them for space. However, he transformed into a more traditional leg break bowler who beats the batters with dip, drift, and turn. Chahal bowled just 10% in the 2022 season, which further highlighted the change in his approach from bowling about 27% googlies in the two prior editions.
Having last played in a Twenty20 International in August 2023, he was surplus to the national team’s needs even though he finished as the 2022–24 IPL cycle’s top wicket-taker. India has favoured players like Varun Chakaravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi, whose average speeds are north of 95 kph, above Chahal, whose top speeds are in the same range, in the cycle following the 2024 T20 World Cup.
He began the season bowling faster than his ideal pace, likely motivated by those thoughts. In his first five games of the season, he averaged 87.5 kph, took only two wickets at an average of 83.50, and gave up runs at an average of 11.13 per over. He picked 4/28 and beat batters with drift and turn to turn an unlikely defence into a victory in the low-scoring thriller against KKR in Mullanpur.
The cherry on top was the hat trick at Chepauk, when he took 11 wickets at 9.72 and an ER of 7.64 in the four innings that followed. He averaged 82.9 kph in these four games. With speeds under 85 kph (ER 7.81), Chahal has taken eight wickets at 10.75 in this IPL, compared to five at 37.40 with speeds beyond 85 kph (ER 10.11).
Chahal has a strong preference for bowling to right-handed hitters over southpaws in recent years.
He has dismissed ten right-handers at 10.80 (ER 7.04) and three left-handers at 55.33 (ER 12.14) in the IPL 2025. He gave up a wicket at 12.71 in over 70% of his deliveries to left-handers, which were over 85 kph. In the IPL 2022, when he was at his best, only 52% of balls to left-handers were faster than 85 kph. He has performed slightly better, picking two southpaws and went at 9.46/over while slowing down below 85.
He has, in contrast, tricked the batters with slow loopy balls as the clincher and distributed the pace much more fairly against right-handers. A 90.8 kph wide down the leg side was used to set up Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and the batter struck a floating leg break at 76.6 kph to backward point. Against Deepak Hooda at Chepauk, the trick was replicated, leading to Chahal’s second IPL hat trick and ultimate dismissal. A flatter delivery at 89 kph knocked back Anshul Kamboj’s stumps, and Noor Ahmad completed the hat trick with another loopy delivery outside off at 84.4 kph.
Even while he isn’t the same bowler a captain could trust to bowl at any point throughout a game, he excels when faced with the ideal opposition. Chahal will undoubtedly play a significant role in breaking Punjab’s Play Offs curse.
India
