James Hopes makes startling admission on Yuzi Chahal and his underwhelming bowling performances this IPL season.
James Hopes believes PBKS are not using their ace legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal enough in IPL 2025.
Chahal has participated in all five of PBKS’s games thus far, however he has only taken two wickets at an average of 83.50 and completed his allotted four overs in two of those games.
In actuality, Chahal was only added in the seventeenth over of PBKS’ 18-run victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Even though PBKS already had the lead, he only let up nine runs and didn’t bowl again during that match.
“With our bowling attack, we need to get Yuzi into the game more than we’re doing; like he’s just struggling to get into the game at the moment,” Hopes said a day before PBKS’ next fixture, against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Mullanpur. “Like against Chennai, just bowling the one over – a very good over at a very important time, but it’s just [about] getting him into the tournament.
“We’re five games in, and for us to win the IPL, we’re going to need him. So we have a month-and-a-half now to try and get him into the tournament proper.”
In contrast to the INR 6.5 crore that RR paid Chahal in 2022, PBKS spent an astounding INR 18 crore on him after he was released by Rajasthan Royals (RR) prior to the most recent super auction. Chahal won the Purple Cap in his debut season with RR, taking 27 wickets in 17 innings at an economy rate of 7.75. The Gujarat Titans (GT) defeated RR in the final.
Chahal took 21 wickets for RR in 2023 and 18 more in 2024. However, he has only taken only two wickets in five of PBKS’s 14 league games so far this season, and his economy rate of 11.13 is the lowest it has ever been in an IPL season.
“We need to get Yuzi into the tournament a little bit – he’s being used in a lot of different roles at a lot of different times at the moment,” Hopes said. “And we’re very pace-heavy at the moment. I think we need to find a way to get more spin into our bowling attack, and hopefully, we see that over the next few games.”