India’s veteran leg-spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal, exhibited a sensational performance in his debut game in the Metro Bank One Cup 2024 on Wednesday. His remarkable spell led the Northamptonshire Steelbacks to a nine-wicket win over the Kent Spitfires at Canterbury.
It is worth mentioning that Chahal landed in England just a few hours before the start of the game. Moreover, his signing was announced an hour before the start of the play.
However, an unfazed Chahal went on to make his debut and picked up 5 wickets for just 14 runs in his 10-over spell. Courtesy of his stellar spell, Kent got all out for just 81 runs in 35.1 overs.
In reply, Northamptonshire scored 86 runs in 14 overs and won the game, comprehensively, by nine wickets.
Metro Bank One Day Cup’s official handle took to their ‘X’ account and uploaded the video of Chahal picking a five-for. They captioned it as:
“Yuzvendra Chahal: 10-5-14-5. A magnificent Northamptonshire debut from the Indian leg-spinner. In his last eight overs his figures were 8-5-4-5! Watch every ball of his unplayable debut spell here.”
Yuzvendra Chahal was part of India’s victorious 2024 T20 World Cup squad
Notably, Yuzvendra Chahal was a mainstay in India’s limited-overs team till 2020. However, he has been in and out of the side, since.
Despite performing exceptionally well in the year 2022, he couldn’t play a game in the T20 World Cup 2022. Later, he failed to make cut for the 2023 World Cup squad. However, on the back of his exceptional performance in IPL, he was roped in India’s squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup. However, once again, he failed to play a single game during the tournament.
Yuvzendra Chahal is currently India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is. In IPL 2024, he became the first bowler to scalp 200 wickets in IPL history. However, he is no longer in India’s scheme of things in white-ball cricket.
Meanwhile, Northamptonshire head coach John Sadler expressed his excitement on signing Yuzvendra Chahal. He emphasized on Chahal’s extensive experience and impressive ability as a leg spinner.
‘Yuzvendra is another high-profile overseas player who brings with him a wealth of experience and some incredible skills,’ Sadler said.
Having played Northamptonshire’s final One-Day Cup match on Wednesday, Yuzvendra Chahal will now be playing the remaining five County Championship fixtures.
