When Piyush Chawla Gave A Savage Response To A Selector Over His Non-Selection In The Indian Team

Indian domestic veteran Piyush Chawla has been out of favour of the national team since 2012. The leg-spinner’s final game for India was a T20 international in Mumbai in December in which he had figures of 4-0-31-0 in a losing effort. However, Piyush Chawla has played regularly in domestic cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL). Recently, he recalled an interaction with a former selector in a chat with Aakash Chopra.

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While Chawla has ample variations and experience under his belt, he has not been able to cement a place in India’s squad. The likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha left him behind in the Test team, who were wicket-taking bowlers and economical too. The 31-year old’s selection in the 2011 World Cup was also baffling.

In a session with cricketer-turned commentator Aakash Chopra, the leggie remembered when a selector told him he could not make it to the Indian squad since most of his wickets came by bowling googlies. Piyush Chawla was taken aback at hearing the same.

How did Piyush Chawla respond to it?

Firstly, the Uttar Pradesh-born leg-spinner said that he is the kind of person who speaks his mind and does not keep anything to heart.

“I also talked to a selector and he told me that ‘You take a lot of wickets on googly’. You know me since childhood and you know that I speak what I feel and don’t keep anything in my heart. This trait of mine is not like also by everyone,” Piyush stated as quoted by Times Now.

Piyush responded by asking him will Sachin Tendulkar’s 100 have no value if 60 runs out of it came by playing straight drives. What Piyush Chawla wanted to convey that a wicket is a wicket at the end of the day and that the selector got offended by that reply.

“I just asked him ‘If Sachin Tendulkar plays the straight-drive perfectly and if he scored 60 out of his 100 runs using straight drives, then will his 100 have no value’. I think thank he got offended after this reply. At the end of the day wicket is wicket,” he added further.

The 31-year old would have plied his trade for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2020 had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic. The yellow army purchased him for a record sum of INR 6.75 crores. He is one of the experienced players in the IPL, having played 150 matches and taking 157 wickets. Chawla has so far represented India in 35 games across formats.

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