‘He is the most experienced leg-spinner in the country’: Lasith Malinga heaps praise on Yuzvendra Chahal

Rajasthan faced Kolkata in the 30^th match of the Indian T20 League 2022 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. In a battle of nerves, Rajasthan emerged on top courtesy of a magical bowling spell by the Indian leg-spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal. He picked up 5 wickets in the match, which includes a hat-trick. In the 17^th over of Kolkata’s innings Chahal just conceded 2 runs and picked up 4 wickets, completely turning the match on its head.

Chahal’s incredible spell earned him the Player of the Match award. The leg-spinner in his current form is becoming the biggest asset and one of the main match winners for the Rajasthan team. He has already picked up 17 wickets in the tournament form 6 matches so far and is currently the highest wicket taker.

The bowling coach of the Rajasthan recognized the match-winning contributions of Chahal in the tournament so far. He is of the opinion that the leg-spinner can pick up wickets at crucial stages and change the complexion of the games. Malinga also feels that Chahal has the skills to be a match-winning bowler in any given condition.

Malinga said during the post-match presentation -“Chahal has more international experience. He is the most experienced leg-spinner in the country and in this tournament. He showed how to control the skill. That’s more important for him going forward to prove he is good enough to play any competitive cricket.”

“Leg-spinners have more wicket-taking options and he showed today how he can get wickets and changed the game in a single over. I think he showed all the leg-spinners that they are the match-winning bowlers in this competition,” the Rajasthan bowling coach further added.

Meanwhile, after his memorable performance in the match, the leggie spoke about his strategies. He also revealed his thinking about his hat-trick delivery.

“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,” -said Chahal.