Rajasthan Royals leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been outstanding for the franchise in the ongoing season as he returned with his best bowling figures (5-40) in the IPL after the inaugural champions bested Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Monday by seven runs.
Chahal first got the wicket of Nitish Rana, which got RR back into the contest as he was settling down at the crease. The leg-spinner then took four wickets in the 17th over, including a hat-trick as he accounted for Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi, and Pat Cummins. Chahal became the fifth RR bowler in the IPL history to claim a hat-trick and the 21st overall in the tournament.
The leg-spinner was once again wily in his variations and he was right on the money. Chahal now has 17 wickets in six matches and he leads the most wickets tally in the season.
The veteran was awarded the Player of the Match for his fine show. As KKR was going well in the run-chase of 218, it was imperative for Chahal to take wickets at regular intervals.
Yuzvendra Chahal said in the post-match presentation, “I had to take wickets in this match to change the result. I worked on my bowling. I spoke to the coaches and the skipper. I was thinking of a googly but then I didn’t want to take a chance. Would have been a happy with a dot ball as well on my hat-trick ball. My googly was coming out well and sent it down to Venkatesh Iyer.”
On the other hand, Obed McCoy was given the onus of bowling the last over when 11 runs were needed. The lanky pacer from the Caribbean was making his debut in the IPL but held his nerve as he dismissed Sheldon Jackson and Umesh Yadav.
He said after the game, “I am feeling good, this is my first game since last year, I had come under pressure, feeling good, it was just about getting over the nerves and going hard. I normally back my skills, but I haven’t played a lot of cricket, so I backed my skills and went about trying to execute the plans, as in a normal scenario. I knew the batter would be looking for power, so I wanted to slow it down and wanted them to target the longer part of the ground. He (Shimron Hetmyer) was just telling me to bowl the way I normally bowl and give my best.”
The inaugural champions will next take on Delhi Capitals at the MCA, Pune on Friday.
