IPL 2022: 3 best Rahul Chahar spells in the IPL
Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings will face each other in the 48th match of IPL 2022 at the Dr. DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Gujarat Titans have had a fabulous season so far, recording eight wins and one loss, while PBKS have four wins and five losses.
Gujarat Titans have amped up their performances throughout the league with openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill, middle-order batsmen Hardik Pandya, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia, and bowlers Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan performing marvelously in each game.
Punjab Kings openers Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan are in shaky form. Although Jonny Bairstow hasn’t produced any decent knocks so far, other overseas batters like Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Liam Livingstone have been brilliant this season. Moreover, Kagiso Rabada and Rahul Chahar have been the best bowlers for the IPL team this season.
Chahar in particular has picked up 55 wickets in 51 IPL games and needs four more scalps to join the 100-wicket club in all T20s. Chahar has arguably been one of the best IPL spinners to come out of the subcontinent and on that note, let's take a look at three of his best bowling spells in the history of the league.
#1 3/19 - MI vs DC in IPL 2019
In the 34th clash of IPL 2019, the Mumbai Indians won the toss against the Delhi Capitals and chose to bat. Openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock put up an opening stand of 57 runs and some quick firing by Hardik Pandya 32 (15) helped MI post 168/5.
In response, Delhi put up an opening stand of 49 runs but opener Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed by Rahul Chahar. He later sent back the other opener, Prithvi Shaw, and got the prized scalp of Shreyas Iyer without letting him settle.
Chahar's brilliance with the ball helped MI win the game by a margin of 40 runs and he ended up with 3/19 in his four.
#2 4/27 - MI vs KKR in IPL 2021
Rahul Chahar's IPL best figures came in the fifth clash of IPL 2021 when Mumbai took on the Kolkata Knight Riders. KKR won the toss and asked MI to bat first.
Though Quinton de Kock was sent back in the second over, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav weaved a partnership to keep MI going. Unfortunately for MI, wickets kept tumbling from one end and Suryakumar ended with 56 (36) to help Mumbai post a target of 153.
In response, openers Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill gave KKR a flying start. It was getting difficult to get either of them out, and the ball was handed to Rahul Chahar. Chahar dismissed Gill, Rahul Tripathi, skipper Eoin Morgan and finally the set Nitish Rana to seal the fate of KKR.
Kolkata fell short of the target by 10 runs and Chahar was rightfully adjudged Player of the Match for his 4/27.
To see list of IPL winner, click here.
#3 3/25 - PBKS vs CSK in IPL 2022
Chahar has been in terrific form this season, with 12 wickets already in nine matches. In their first clash against defending champions CSK, the Punjab Kings were put into bat first but that turned out to be good.
With Liam Livingstone's 60 (32), laced with five fours and five sixes, PBKS registered 180/8 in 20 overs. When it was CSK's turn to bat, they quickly found themselves at 36/5 and in an absolute fix.
However, Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni started stitching together a partnership. This is where Rahul Chahar stepped in. Chahar picked up the prized wicket of MS Dhoni, followed by Dwaine Pretorius and finally Chris Jordan to clean up CSK for a mere 126.
PBKS won by 54 runs and Rahul Chahar ended up with a season's best of 3/25.