Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) director of cricket Mike Hesson has revealed why they did not sign Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the auction for the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Hesson, who served as the franchise’s DoC from 2019-2023, made these comments as Chahal became the first player in IPL history to reach the 200-wicket milestone. Speaking on JioCinema, Hesson revealed that he did not sign Chahal because keeping just three players gave the team an extra four million rupees to spend, through which they intended to buy back Chahal and pacer Harshal Patel.
However, during the auction, Yuzvendra’s name came up very late. They were interested in another option, Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga to boost their attack. When Hasaranga appeared early in the auction, RCB went after him and lost Chahal, whose name came much later.
“Yuzi (Chahal) is someone I’m going to be frustrated with until the end of my career and probably beyond. He’s an excellent player. I think when it comes to every cycle, you have to decide who you’re going to keep. It was one of those things where, if you keep just three players, you will get an extra 4 crore in the auction. This potentially gave us a chance to get Harshal (Patel) and Yuzi,” Hesson told former India batsman Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinema.
“Then the auction order came up and Yuzvendra Chahal was ranked 65th. Since we had signed so many players, we would be intimidated. After Yuzi, there was no other spinner we were interested in. We were obviously interested in Hasaranga as another option if we didn’t get Yuzi, so we made an early bid for him and once we reached Hasaranga, that meant we couldn’t go for Yuzi,” he added.
In 153 matches, Chahal took 200 wickets at an average of 21.60, with best figures of 5/40. He took six four-wicket hauls and one five-wicket haul during his IPL career.
The veteran Indian spinner achieved this milestone during the IPL match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium.
This incredible moment in Chahal’s cricket career came during the eighth over of the game. Chahal caught and bowled Afghanistan and MI all-rounder Mohammed Nabi for 23 runs to bring up his double century of wickets.
Chahal played for Mumbai Indians (2011-13) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) (2014-21) before joining Rajasthan Royals in 2021. Although he did not take any wickets for MI in the only match he played, he took 139 wickets for RCB in 113 matches. Now for RR, he has taken 61 wickets in 39 matches.
Coming into the match, Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first. MI were 20/3 at one point. Then it was Tilak, who had a 32-run partnership with Mohammed Nabi (23 off 17 balls, with two fours and a six) and a 99-run stand with Nehal Wadhera (49 off 24 balls, with three fours and a of six). Took MI to 179/9 in their 20 overs.
Sandeep Sharma (5/18) was Rajasthan’s best bowler and took a memorable five-wicket haul. Trent Boult also took 2/32 from his four overs. Avesh Khan got a wicket. Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also took a wicket and became the first player to reach 200 IPL wickets.
In the chase, Jaiswal reached his second IPL century, scoring 104* off 60 balls, with nine fours and seven sixes. Strikes from Jos Buttler (35 off 25 balls, with six fours) and captain Sanju (38 off 28 balls, with two fours and two sixes) guided RR to a nine-wicket victory.
Jaiswal took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
RR is at the top of the points table with seven wins and one defeat, totaling 14 points. MI is in seventh place with three wins, five defeats and six points.
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