Yuzvendra Chahal was added to the Punjab Kings’ squad after a successful bid of INR 18 crore. However, the spinner is still searching for form, and he bowled just one over in the match against Chennai Super Kings. Captain Shreyas Iyer gave him the 17th over of the innings, with the bowler conceding 9 runs in front of Devon Conway and MS Dhoni. Chahal, who is the leading wicket-taker in the history of the Indian Premier League, hasn’t been able to justify the trust of the team management. Iyer revealed the reason behind his move.
“It was a tactical call not to use Yuzvendra Chahal in front of Shivam Dube. I backed my instincts and went with seamers as the ball was doing a bit. Dube can hit long sixes against the spinners, so it was important to keep Chahal away,” he said.
Shreyas also mentioned the fielding standard of the franchise. Punjab Kings dropped four catches. “The nerves haven’t settled down, and once we are over with that, the players will start taking catches. We will have to be fearless during fielding, and we will work on our group catching. We haven’t played out best cricket yet,” he added.
Iyer was pleased with the effort of Priyansh Arya, who scored 103 runs off 42 balls against CSK. Punjab won the game by 18 runs to register their third win of the season.
“He was timid against Jofra Archer in the previous game, and I told him to back his instincts. He was fearless and went for strokes against Chennai.”
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