Mumbai Indians’ leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has revealed the team’s captain Rohit Sharma always gives him confidence whenever he is feeling low.
Chahar had a night to remember as he returned with his best bowling figures of 4-27 in the IPL history and played a key role in his team’s 10-run victory against Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Tuesday.
Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a perfect start as their openers – Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana added 72 runs for the opening alliance inside the nine overs and thus they were cruising to the target of 153 runs.
In fact, Chahar showed great courage to pitch the ball up to Shubman Gill after the right-hander had smashed for a six on the previous ball. Gill tried to go for another big shot and holed out at long-off. Subsequently, Chahar got the ball to turn square against Rahul Tripathi to induce an outside edge to Quinton de Kock.
The wrist-spinner also got the big wicket of well-settled Nitish Rana, who was stumped after scoring 57 runs. Moreover, Chahar also dismissed KKR captain Eoin Morgan and played a key role in getting MI back into the contest.
The spinner from Rajasthan was awarded the Player of the Match for his fine bowling performance. Rohit Sharma is known to get the best out of his players and Chahar heaped praise on his captain.
Rahul Chahar said at the post-match presentation, “There was pressure when they started well and a spinner had to pull it back. I enjoyed Tripathi’s wicket. I was confident in my abilities as I have been playing the IPL for 2-3 years. I know Gill well, and I also know he can’t keep hitting me out of the park on a regular basis. I can spin at 90 kph and that’s my strength. I had an idea about Nitish walking down the track, so I bowled a flipper outside off on the last ball of my spell. My confidence is sometimes down, but Rohit shows confidence in me to lift me up. Mumbai Indians takes care of its players during the off-season as well, and that’s why it is such a special franchise”.
On the other hand, Chahar also got the support from Krunal Pandya, who returned with impressive figures 1-13 in his quota of four overs. The role of spinners is paramount at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai and the MI spinners were able to deliver in their second match of the season.
MI will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad at the same venue of Chepauk Stadium, Chennai on 17th April.
