A spellbinding knock of 103* off 49 deliveries by Suryakumar Yadav propelled five-time champions Mumbai Indians to a massive total of 218 runs in the first innings, when they hosted Gujarat Titans in their most recent game of the ongoing IPL 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium. Rashid Khan played brilliantly and put up an all-round show, but the Titans fell short of the target by 27 runs.
Yadav and others received a lot of attention, but there was another guy who kept up his steady performance and contributed towards the team’s success. Veteran spinner Piyush Chawla was yet again at his best as he was once again among the wickets during the game against the Hardik Pandya-led side. He finished his four-over spell registering 2/36 and provided the side with the crucial breakthroughs by picking up Vijay Shankar and Rahul Tewatia’s wickets.
He has had a fantastic season thus far. The 34-year-old is now third in the IPL 2023 Purple Cap rankings with 19 wickets this season. The INR 50 lakh that Chawla is receiving for the season has already been paid back in full, and the spinner surely was a steal deal for Mumbai. Speaking of his dream run this season, Chawla, in an interaction with JioCinema, said:
“I am playing my son. He never saw me playing, he was too young when I was playing in my prime. But now he understands the game and knows what I am doing. He is still 6 but he understands. He is the reason I kept working hard.”
In addition, Chawla has 174 IPL wickets, which puts him just 12 wickets behind Yuzvendra Chahal, who recently surpassed Dwayne Bravo to become IPL‘s all-time leading wicket-taker. Speaking of Mumbai Indians’ campaign this year, the five-time champions started off on a sluggish note as they lost the first few games of the season.
It was a topsy-turvy ride then, as they won some and lost some. But Rohit Sharma and his men have shown great grit and determination of late. They have consistently breached the 200-run mark in the tournament, and have registered several victories, thereby strengthening their chances of qualifying for the playoffs, something that they haven’t managed to do since their victorious 2020 season.