Y is for (Y)uzvendra Singh Chahal who plays cricket now and used to play chess in the past – #BlogchatterAtoZ #AtoZChallenge 2019
Throughout this series, I have been bringing you tales of sportspersons who are talented in one particular field of endeavour. Today I am bringing you the story of a budding young sportsman who in addition to being a cricketer, was also a chess player at the national level once upon a time. This is none other than Yuzvendra Singh Chahal who is an ODI and T20I cricket player. He has also represented India in chess.
Chahal was born on 23, July 1990 and plays for Haryana in domestic cricket and Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL. He is a leg-break bowler. He was first signed up by Kolkata Knight Riders in the year 2008. In the first three seasons of IPL, he appeared only in 18 games for KKR. From 2011-13 he played for Mumbai Indians. He played all the matches of the 2011 Champions League Twenty20 tournament. In the finals of the 2011 IPL season, he took 2 for 9 in 3 overs thereby helping Mumbai Indians defend a modest total of 139 against RCB, consequently helping them lift the trophy.
He was then purchased by RCB for his base price of Rs 10 lakh. He secured the Man of the Match award in the finals against Delhi Daredevils in the IPL 2014 season. In January 2016, he was again bought by RCB in the 2018 IPL auction. As regards his international career, he made his international debut against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club on 11, June 2016. In the second match of the series he took 3 wickets for just 25 runs and led the side to victory by 8 wickets.
In this match, he delivered a seam-up delivery at a speed of 109 km/h in his second over. His bowling performance also earned him his first international man of the match award. He made his T20I debut also against Zimbabwe at Harare on 18, June 2016. In the year 2017 Chahal became the first bowler for India to take a 5 wicket haul in T20Is with figures of 6/25 against England.
Chahal is also the first legspinner to take a 5 wicket as well as a 6 wicket haul in T20Is and holds the record for the best bowling figures for a legspinner in T20I history. He has taken the maximum number of wickets (23) in T20Is in a year (2017) for any bowler in T20I history. On 18, January, playing against Australia in an ODI, Chahal took 6 for 42 which was his second 5 wicket haul in ODIs. These figures equalled the record set by Ajit Agarkar in 2003.04.
Chahal has played 40 ODIs and scored 34 runs at an average of 11.33 with a top score of 18. He has bowled 2113 balls in ODIs and taken 71 wickets ad 23.83 apiece. He has taken 5 wickets in an innings twice with the best figures of 6 for 42. He has played 29 T20Is and scored 4 runs at an average of 4. He has bowled 681 balls and taken 45 wickets at 19.93 apiece. His best bowling figures in T20Is is 6/25.
In April 2019, he was named in the India squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. As a chess player, Chahal represented India at the World Youth Chess Championship. But later he could not find a sponsor and had to give up the game. He is listed in the World Chess Federation’s official site. I hope you enjoyed reading about this up and coming player. Hopefully, he has many more years of cricket left in him and will ride the crest in the coming years.
Tags – #BlogchatterAtoZ 2019 #AtoZChallenge 2019
Someone playing 2 different sports professionally, now that is something you don't get to hear. Yuzi is such a good bowler and fielder too. Now I know that all that concentration must come from playing chess!
I have never heard about him! Wonderful post!
I thought you will write about Yovaraj Singh who survived the cancer battle. Anyways, Chahal is one of my favorite bowler (RCB fan here).
A legspinner myself I love the courage with which he floats the ball up but he has a really long way to go become a great one. Nice one sirji.
Yes, concentration is required in everything in life. Isn't it? Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Well, I did think of Yuvraj Singh but I decided on the unknown player. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Thanks for visiting and commenting.