'He Was Really Fired up for This IPL': How Yuzvendra Chahal is Making a Case for World Cup Berth

Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson praised Yuzvendra Chahal after their six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians (MI) in their 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.

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“I think he was really fired up for this IPL, and he’s been doing well for the past 2-3 years for us,” Samson said at the post-match presentation.

Chahal has been a constant source of wickets for RR and won the Purple Cap in when playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He is India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is but surprisingly has never played a game in the T20 World Cup.

With the T20 World Cup 2024 being scheduled to start from June 1 in West Indies and USA, Chahal’s name is likely to come up for selection. He is also currently second in the leading wicket-takers charts for IPL 2024, with scalps so far.

On Monday, after Trent Boult’s fiery opening spell, Chahal became MI’s tormentor, wiping out the middle-order in claiming 3/11 in four brilliant overs .

Tilak Varma and MI captain Hardik Pandya counter-attacked in their 56-run stand as the left-right duo raised their fifty in 32 balls after the loss of quick wickets at the top.

Chahal broke the stand as he got Pandya to go for a big one only to be caught in the deep by substitute Rovman Powell.

Varma too looked like he would help MI to a big score with trademark blazing shots but Chahal had him reaching out to a wide googly and the batter ballooned an edge to Ashwin at short third-man.

Chahal, who bowled a brilliant line and length against a clueless MI middle-order, claimed Gerald Coetzee as his third victim as the hosts continued to falter and only managed a paltry score. MI were restricted to 125/9 in 20 overs, their second-lowest total against RR.

“Was trying to vary my pace, just tried to mix my length and pace. A few balls were turning, so I tried to bowl that ball against Hardik. I always back my skills, this is the format where you go for runs, sometimes you get wickets.” Chahal said at the mid-innings break.

(With inputs from Agencies)