MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians (MI) spinner Piyush Chawla overtook Ravichandran Ashwin to become the bowler with the fifth-highest wickets in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The spin veteran accomplished this during MI’s match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
In the match, Chawla was the pick of the bowlers for MI, taking 2/15 in his three overs at an economy rate of 5.00. He took the wickets of Atharva Taide and Liam Livingstone.
At the age of 34, the spinner was picked up at last year’s auction for Rs 50 lakh and the move is paying rich dividends to his side. He has taken nine wickets in six matches at an average of 17.55 and an economy rate of 6/86. His best bowling figures are 3/22 and is in the ninth bowling charts so far.
He is the leading wicket-taker for MI this season so far.
In his IPL career which has seen him play for Chennai Super Kings, PBKS, Kolkata Knight Riders and MI, Piyush has taken 166 wickets in 171 matches at an average of 26.86 and an economy rate of 7.84. His best bowling figures are 4/17.
He is the fifth-highest wicket-taker in IPL, behind West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo (183), Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (177), Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga (170) and India spin veteran Amit Mishra (170).
Coming to the match, MI won the toss and opted to field first against PBKS. PBKS inning ended at 214/8 in their 20 overs. Sam Curran (55), Harpreet Singh (41) and Atharva Taide (29) were among the top batters for Punjab. Piyush Chawla (2/15 in three overs) was the pick of the bowlers for MI.
MI’s innings is currently in progress.
MI (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Tilak Varma, Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff
PBKS (Playing XI): Atharva Taide, Prabhsimran Singh, Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh. (ANI)