“Aur auction bhi aa raha hai…”: Rohit Sharma wishes Yuzvendra Chahal well for IPL 2022 auction

Rohit Sharma wishes Yuzvendra Chahal well: The Indian white-ball captain has assured the spinner to have a mindset of an important player.

Since making his ODI debut in June 2016, India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal had never gone three years without winning a ‘Man of the Match’ award. Chahal, 31, ended his wait last night after winning the award for the fourth time in his 60-match career.

Introduced into the attack in the 20th over, Chahal dismissed West Indies batter Nicholas Pooran (18) and captain Kieron Pollard (0) off consecutive deliveries to dent the opposition in his first over itself. With the visitors losing half their side following Pollard’s dismissal, the hosts had won half the battle.

In addition to the match award, Chahal achieved another milestone of picking his 100th wicket in India’s 1,000th ODI. The leg-spinner had become the joint 10th fastest to pick 100 ODI wickets. “Feels great. I have seen a few ups and downs in the last five years. It’s a big thing to pick 100 wickets in any format,” Chahal told captain Rohit Sharma in a post-match interview uploaded on BCCI’s website.

Been out of the squad for a brief period including the ICC T20 World Cup last year, Chahal threw light on improving as a bowler especially working on his pace. It was Chahal’s comparatively slower pace which was highlighted as a reason for his exclusion from the World Cup squad.

“I have changed my angles a bit. When I wasn’t in the squad, I was looking to improve. I observed that other bowlers used to get more pace while bowling side-arm,” Chahal added.

Rohit Sharma wishes Yuzvendra Chahal well for IPL 2022 auction

In the 29 overs that he bowled during the tour of South Africa, Chahal picked a couple of wickets at an economy rate of 5.06 admitting that he didn’t bowl the googly as much as he should’ve. Readers must note that it was the googly which aided Chahal in dismissing Pollard on the first ball.

“As we were discussing before the match, I had missed bowling the googly in South Africa. Since it is a main weapon for a leg-spinner, I was thinking of mixing it well today. Like we had planned for [Kieron] Pollard, I was aware that a bad length would have resulted in a six,” Chahal said.

Sharma, who assured Chahal of being an “important player” for the Indian team, expected him to play with the same mindset irrespective of ups and downs. The skipper also wished Chahal well ahead of the IPL 2022 auction scheduled to be held in Bengaluru later this week.

“You’re an important player for us. I want you to play with that mindset. Ups and down are part and parcel of the game. But one should have the right mindset. Aur auction bhi aa raha hai toh good luck [Good luck for IPL 2022 auction, laughs],” Sharma concluded.

Chahal, highest wicket-taker for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, was released by them last year. With a base price of INR 2 crore, Chahal is among the 48 players who have placed themselves in the highest price category. It goes without saying that Chahal will be a sought-after player by franchises in this mega auction.