Yuzvendra Chahal’s signing by Punjab Kings (PBKS) was one of the highlights of the IPL 2025 mega-auction last November. The wrist-spinner, who didn’t feature in Rajasthan Royals’ list of retained players, entered into the auction ring with a base price of INR 2 Crore.
Chahal was expected to attract several IPL franchises and that’s exactly what happened, with PBKS outbidding SRH, RCB, LSG, CSK and GT to secure his services for Rs 18 crore, making him the most expensive spinner of the tournament.
However, Chahal has failed to justify his whopping price tag so far, claiming only two wickets in Punjab’s five matches. In the contest against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday (April 12), Chahal constantly bowled wide deliveries to avoid getting hit for boundaries and sixes.
After the game, former India spinner Piyush Chawla called out Yuzvendra Chahal's defensive approach. While Chahal managed to dismiss SRH opener Travis Head, he conceded more than 50 runs in his quota of four overs.
SRH ended up chasing a daunting target of 246 with eight wickets in hand and nine balls to spare as Abhishek Sharma played a sensational knock of 141 runs in just 55 balls. Head also played a useful innings of 66 in 37 balls.
"Well, he created that chance (drop chance of Abhishek Sharma) and you need at least one chance, and he created that one and he has nobody else to blame for that. He almost reached there but apart from that… later on when both the batters [Abhishek and Travis Head] were going after him, I didn't find that Yuzvendra Chahal which we used to see a couple of years back and even till last year," said Chawla while speaking on ESPNCricinfo's 'TimeOut'.
"He was just not trying to get the batter out. He was just trying to toss it wide and playing more of a safe game, defensive bowling. That Yuzvendra Chahal we have not seen. I have not seen him bowling googlies also. If you're bowling wide outside off stump for them [left-hand batters] and it's going away from there, so you eventually get a chance to get a wicket or something like that," he added.
According to Chawla, Chahal had the perfect chance of being attacking against SRH as PBKS batters had racked up a mammoth total on the board at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
“If you see this season, he has bowled some 14-15 [15] overs and he's not bowled his four [overs] quite often, and he's conceding more than 11-12 runs in a season at the moment, which [makes] you feel you want to play a defensive game,” said Chawla.
“You just want to get your four overs in and then try to pick up a wicket. But today, I felt it was the day when you have 245 runs on the board, any which way you're going for runs, so you should better try for wickets and if you pick up those couple of wickets, then you are in the game,” he remarked.
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer reckons Chahal's focus should be on bowling more googlies rather than looking to stay away from the hitting arc and conceding an economical spell.
"I think the few deliveries that he bowled when he picked up Travis Head's wicket, that is what we need to see Yuzvendra Chahal bowl more often," Jaffer said.
“You're looking to spin the ball, looking to bowl googly, looking to put some revs on the ball, which I think we are missing from watching Yuzi. He is very defensive in his mindset and the pressure is pretty much visible on his face that, you know, he's off colour. But you know for Punjab to become good, he's the main puzzle that they need to solve,” he further stated.
