Chahal and his safety first approach under the microscope as Punjab hold aspirations of making the playoffs.
Chahal and his tendency to play it safe amidst a lean run could cost Punjab. That is the puzzle that Punjab need to solve as quickly as possible.
Yuzvendra Chahal became the first bowler to reach the 200-wicket milestone in the IPL last year. Nobody else has made it there yet; Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is now bowling at 186, is the next best. However, after a year and five IPL 2025 games for his new side, the Punjab Kings (PBKS), concerns are beginning to surface regarding Chahal’s performance.
Chahal has not bowled his entire quota in three games this IPL and has only taken two wickets in five innings at an economy rate of 11.13. Chahal, a wicket-taking option, has never had a season economy rate of more than 9.41 (2024) since making his IPL debut in 2013. He is going at 11.13 this year.
Chahal has been playing a “safe game,” which is new for him, according to Piyush Chawal, another legspinner and the second-highest wicket-taker in IPL history.
“Well, he created that chance [Chahal dropped Abhishek Sharma off his own bowling] and you need at least one chance, and he created that one and he has nobody [else] to blame for that,” Chawla said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “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. 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,” Chawla said.
“But he didn’t bowl that, maybe because of the lack of form. 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.
“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.”