IPL 2022: Yuzvendra Chahal Showed Why Leg-Spinners Are Considered Match-Winners In IPL, Says Lasith Malinga

According to Rajasthan Royals bowling coach Lasith Malinga, Yuzvendra Chahal has once again shown why leg-spinners are considered match-winners in the IPL with a splendid seventeenth over in which he was able to get the first hat-trick of this season.

Chahal (5/40 out of 4 overs) eliminated Venkatesh Iyer off his first ball in the seventeenth over and afterward Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi, and Pat Cummins off the fourth, fifth and 6th balls to totally turn the match on its head and hand RR a seven-run victory upon Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday night.

Earlier in the game, Jos Buttler played a splendid knock of 103 runs off 63 balls, propelling RR to a match-winning total of 217/5.

He Showed All The Leg-Spinners That They Are The Match-Winning Bowlers: Lasith Malinga On Yuzvendra Chahal

“Chahal has more international experience. He is the most experienced leg-spinner in the country and in this tournament. He showed how to control the skill. That’s more important for him going forward to prove he is good enough to play any competitive cricket,” Malinga said at the post-match press conference.

“Leg-spinners have more wicket-taking options and he showed today how he can get wickets and changed the game in a single over. I think he showed all the leg-spinners that they are the match-winning bowlers in this competition.”

Yuzendra Chahal And Jos Buttler Snatched Away The Game From Us: KKR Coach Brendon McCullum

KKR head coach Brendon McCullum said it was a great game of cricket, however, Chahal and Buttler just took the game away from their hands.

“You can’t allow good players like Chahal to enter the game when there’s pressure on. We played a good game but just made a couple of silly mistakes.

“But that’s what happens sometimes. Jos Buttler got a hundred on their side, Yuzi Chahal got a five-for including a hat-trick and we lost by seven runs, so we played a good game but ran second,” McCullum said.

“With four overs to go, we were in the driver’s seat but then some silly mistakes and not being able to handle pressure as well as we should have cost us the game.”

We Have To Keep Pushing Ourselves: Brendon McCullum On His Team’s Recent Form

With six points from seven games, KKR are currently placed sixth in the points table and the Kiwi said they need to stick together as a unit and keep pushing one another.

“From our point of view, we’ve had three losses in a row and we’re going to have to find a way to keep our morale high which is so vitally important. There can be a tendency to run away from things when you haven’t got across the line in a couple of key games.

‘We just have to keep pushing ourselves, make sure we stick together and stay composed. We’ve been there before and it’s going to test us again this time,” McCullum said.

Yuzvendra Chahal is leading the race for Purple Cap in this season of IPL. The leggie has so far picked an astonishing 17 wickets in just 7 games at an average of 10.35 at an economy of 7.33. His Strike Rate of 8.47 has been the best in the league so far.

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