Piyush Chawla announces his professional cricket retirement after winning two world cups in his playing career.
The former India legspinner Piyush Chawla has ended his more than 20-year professional career. Chawla, 36, made his final appearance for India in 2012 in the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka. He played three Test matches, twenty-five ODIs, and seven T20Is.
Chawla had committed to playing domestic cricket in the hopes of making an appearance in the 2025 Indian Premier League, but his final appearance was in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2024–2025. He didn’t sell at the November mega auction.
Chawla played for four different IPL teams: the Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Punjab Kings. He appeared in 192 IPL games. The 2014 season, when he famously struck the winning runs to give KKR their second IPL title in three seasons, was the high point of his 192-wicket haul. In 2024, Chawla made his final IPL appearance while playing for MI. He ranks as the IPL’s fourth-highest wicket-taker.
When Chawla bowled Sachin Tendulkar with a googly in the 2005 Challenger Trophy, he was 16 years old and shot to fame. He made his Test debut in 2006 in Mohali against England, shortly after joining India’s Under-19 World Cup team, which also included players like Rohit Sharma, Pujara, and Ravindra Jadeja.
His career peaked between 2007 and 2011, when he was a member of the winning Indian T20 World Cup team, the ODI team that won a tri-series in Australia in 2008, and the winning Indian ODI World Cup team in 2011.
Chawla played domestic cricket for Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, taking 446 first-class wickets in 137 games. Chawla praised his mentors, including the late Pankaj Saraswat and KK Gautam, in a final Instagram post.
“From representing India at the highest level to being part of the victorious 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup squads, every moment in this incredible journey has been nothing short of a blessing. These memories will forever remain etched in my heart,” Chawla wrote. “Though I step away from the crease, cricket will always live with me, I now look forward to embarking on a new journey, carrying the lessons and spirit of this beautiful game.”