Star India leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been making merry with the red cherry in the ongoing County Championship Division Two. Recently, he made his much-awaited debut for Northamptonshire and wreaked havoc against Derbyshire by picking nine wickets in the match. Notably, he claimed a five-wicket haul while on debut in the first innings.
Interestingly, in that game, one more spinner ably partnered with Chahal was Rob Keogh. The duo shared nine wickets between them in the second innings. In the aftermath, Keogh was all praises for the ace leg spinner. He revealed that the Northants call Chahal a “magician” and that he thoroughly loved bowling in tandem with him. Confirming the title bestowed on him, the ace leggie took to his social media to post and thank his spin partner.
Check out Chahal’s latest post here:
Partner 🏏 💪 https://t.co/CQGyBWQfiW
— Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) September 12, 2024
Moreover, he revealed how cunningly he brings out his variations when the batters least expect him to use especially during chilly weather conditions. It is worthy to mention that Yuzvendra Chahal claimed his best bowling figures (9/99) in his First-Class (FC) cricket career. Besides, he also went on to complete his 100 wickets in the county championship game in the 15th year of his career. So far Chahal has played 36 games at the FC level.
“We call him the magician. He’s got a bag of tricks. Luckily it was too cold for him to get all his tricks out. So he said he just stuck to the flipper a few times and that got him a few wickets. Obviously, everyone knows what he can do, including the opposition. They are expecting him to bowl big turners and he pulls out the flipper,” Keogh was quoted as saying by India Today.
Also Check- WATCH: Yuzvendra Chahal picks five-fer for Northamptonshire in County Championship
Chahal’s herculean effort led Northamptonshire to a huge 133-run victory
Meanwhile, speaking of the game, Northamptonshire posted 218 runs on the board while batting first. In reply, on Day 2, Derbyshire was cruising well with 150/4 at one stage. It was then that Yuzvendra Chahal arrived on the occasion and took matters into his own hands. He started the demolition job along with Keogh and triggered a middle order collapse which continued with the tail as well. As a result, Derbyshire managed to score just 15 runs while losing six wickets.
Also Check- WATCH: Yuzvendra Chahal delivers dream ball to beat well-set Wayne Madsen in County Championship
In the second innings, Northants failed to do better with the bat as they finished with giving a target of 266 runs for Derbyshire. However, the Chahal-Keogh duo continued from where they left off and steamrolled the opposition. In the end, they got folded for just 132 as Northants won the game quite emphatically by 133 runs. Besides, Chahal still has two matches to go in the current season for Northamptonshire.