Piyush Chawla

Two-time World Cup winner, a legend of the IPL, Piyush Chawla is an Indian cricketer who has played all three formats for the Indian national cricket team. His main weapon in the arsenal is the mixup of a sharp googly in between a solid set of leg-spinners. A 17-year-old Chawla came early into the reckoning when he bowled batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar with his googly in a Challenger Trophy game. 

In 2004-05, at an age of 15 years, Chawla played for the India U19 team against England Colts, where the young leggie snapped 13 wickets in just two Youth Tests. He then went on to represent Uttar Pradesh in the U22 category. In January 2006, the leggie got picked for the U19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. He finished as India’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament, including his magical spell of 4 for 8 against Pakistan in the final, but unfortunately, it went in vain. 

Soon the leggie was fast-tracked and was handed his maiden Test cap against England, a couple of months later at Mohali, but with contemporaries in Anil Kumble and Amit Mishra hauling at the top level, Chawla couldn’t sustain. He has been more successful in the white-ball formats compared to the longest format. Chawla is also one of the very few players to have been part of the World Cup-winning teams both in the T20 format in 2007 as well as the ODI format in 2011. 

Chawla made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2007 and started his 50-overs career with three wickets on his debut. The leggie became a regular feature in the ODI side and performed consistently till July 2008. Then, he signed a country contract with Sussex for a month. The Aligarh-born got picked for the 2010 World T20, where he made his first appearance against South Africa in the game's shortest format. Chawla made another comeback in 2012 during the home tour against England in the T20 and Test format, but ever since, remained out of favour.

That said, Chawla has been a favourite in franchise cricket. In 2020, he became the third-highest wicket-taker in the IPL. Over the years, he has played and consistently performed for various franchises. Initially, he donned the colors of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) for the first six editions, before shifting his base to Kolkata. The leggie was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 2014 season and stayed there for the next six years. At KKR, he became a vital cog in their triumph in ‘14 and emerged as one of the pillars in the spin-trio of Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, and himself. 

After a below-par season, Chawla was released by the franchise before Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bought the old warhorse for INR 6.75 crores as the most expensive Indian capped player. He played 20 games in the yellow jersey in his two-year stint but could impress much and got released ahead of the 2021 season. 

In February 2021, Chawla was bought by the most successful IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians, for the 14th edition of the league. The veteran spinner would be hoping to stay long at the Wankhende-based franchise, in the twilight of his career.  

(As of March 2021)