Star Indian leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal happened to be the most expensive spinner in the history of the Indian Premier League in the IPL 2025 mega auction. Chahal was roped in by the Punjab Kings for a whopping amount of INR 18 crores. He will be one of the vitals in the wheel for PBKS to utilize on the spin-friendly Indian tracks in the IPL 2025.
Chahal has been one of the top performers with the ball in the last couple of editions of the tournament. The 34-year-old has delivered his best while playing for different franchises in the Indian Premier League.
The three reasons to answer the question why Yuzvendra Chahal is a better pick for PBKS:
Consistency in the last 6 editions
Yuzvendra Chahal has been one of the most consistent bowlers in the Indian bowlers in the Indian Premier League for five years across six editions of the tournament. He is also the leading wicket-taker in the last six editions of the tournament, alongside bowling with a decent bowling strike rate.
The Haryana-born leggie has scalped 123 wickets in 90 innings, with an economy rate of 7.88 and a strike rate of 16.50. He has five four-wicket hauls to his name, alongside a five-wicket haul, including the best performance of ‘5 wickets at 40 runs in a match.’ It could be one of the prime reasons to justify his inclusion in the PBKS squad for IPL 2025.
Dangerous in the middle overs
Diving down a bit more into the numbers, it reveals that Chahal becomes more dangerous to tackle for the opponent, especially in the middle overs of the innings [from 7 to 15 overs]. A captain can easily trust and pass the bowl to the star leg spinner when it comes to giving some serious blows to the opponent in the middle overs of the innings.
It can be understood from the numbers that he has scalped 74 out of his 123 wickets in the middle overs [7 to 15 overs] in the last 6 editions. He has bowled 241.5 of his total 338.1 overs only in the middle overs in the last six editions. The 34-year-old has an economy rate of 7.56, alongside a brilliant dot-ball percentage of 36.7.
Experience of Indian pitches
Yuzvendra Chahal can also be trusted by his skipper owing to his long experience of bowling on the Indian pitches. The leg-spinner is friendly to most of the pitches of the Indian venues, where the IPL matches will be played.
The IPL 2022’s purple cap holder has not scalped less than 18 wickets per season in the Indian Premier League since the tournament’s 2019 edition. It might also work as a staunch point to justify Chahal’s place in the Punjab Kings’ squad.
Disclaimer: This exclusive news is based on the author’s insights, analysis, and intuition. While reviewing this information, consider the points discussed and form your own conclusions.
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