Chawla bagged an IPL contract with Mumbai Indians in the mini-auction last December.
After failing to find a bid in the mega auction last year, Chawla took to commentary in IPL 2022. However, the 34-year-old put in the hard yards with Gujarat in domestic cricket where he claimed 16 wickets across Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
As a result, Chawla bagged an IPL contract with Mumbai Indians in the mini-auction last December. He is third on the list of highest wicket-taker with 19 scalps from 12 matches this season.
On Friday (May 12), Piyush Chawla returned with a couple of wickets, which included a brilliant googly to get rid of Vijay Shankar as Mumbai Indians successfully defended the total of 218 against Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium.
"Well, I just wanted to make a comeback because that urge was there to play. Earlier, I never used to go to all the camps, but this year I attended all the camps. Gujarat Cricket Association helped me a lot, and Parthiv Patel helped me a lot. After that, I played in all the tournaments, DY Patil, Mushtaq Ali, and Vijay Hazare. I wanted to bowl in the matches, at the nets I have bowled enough," Chawla told JioCinema after MI's 27-run win over GT.
"It means a lot (this season) because it's not only about the comeback. I wanted to play for my son as well because he had not seen me playing. When he saw me, he was too young. Now he has started understanding it better although he is still 6. But he really follows the game and understands the game. So I really wanted to play the game and do something special for him," he added.
"He reviews the game immediately after the game. He sits with me or over a phone call. He is my biggest critic."
Speaking about his approach in his comeback season, Chawla said: "Nobody put any pressure on me, I knew I had to take responsibility (after injuries to Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer). The wickets are very important, as a leg-spinner my job was to look for wickets."
When asked if he is missing the commentary, the leggie replied: "Not missing commentary at all. Because this is what I missed doing and loving it. I am just enjoying my cricket at the moment. I am just trying to stick to the basics and trying to back my strengths. Not trying to do anything different."
With this victory, Mumbai Indians jumped from No. 4 to No. 3 with 14 points in 12 matches to boost their playoffs chances.