"How are you able to do that?" - Aakash Chopra lauds Piyush Chawla's performances for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023

Aakash Chopra has picked Piyush Chawla as one of the bright spots in the Mumbai Indians' (MI) IPL 2023 campaign.

Rohit Sharma and Co. finished fourth in the league phase to qualify for the playoffs and were eventually eliminated from the tournament after a loss to the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2. Chawla, with 22 scalps at an acceptable economy rate of 8.11, was their highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

While reflecting on the Mumbai Indians' IPL 2023 campaign in a video shared on his YouTube, Chopra heaped praise on Chawla for being at his vintage best:

"Piyush Chawla has become immortal. How are you able to do that? Piyush Chawla was bought at base price but they got him to put in a lot of effort before that. He was made to play tournaments and was sent to South Africa for training."

The former Indian opener opined that the veteran spinner might have enjoyed his best season of the Indian Premier League:

"So he was regularly bowling and in the end, it turned out to be his best season. It might have been his best season ever, in terms of the wickets that he picked. He is obviously an IPL veteran and has been for a long time."

This was the first time Chawla picked up more than 20 wickets in an IPL season. His previous best haul was the 17 wickets he took in the inaugural season of the prestigious league.

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"He bowled in difficult circumstances and picked up wickets" - Aakash Chopra on Piyush Chawla

Piyush Chawla is the third-highest wicket-taker in IPL history. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra praised Chawla for adding more variety to his bowling and delivering the goods in tough situations:

"The way he bowled this year - he even bowled slightly slower, he used to bowl fast earlier. His googly was turning a lot and he got the leg-spin to turn as well. He bowled in difficult circumstances and picked up wickets."

The reputed commentator added that the Mumbai Indians leg-spinner was both penetrative and economical more often than not:

"He was economical as well. He did get hit a lot in one or two matches towards the end but nine out of 10 times he was a two-wicket bowler and max 30 runs in four overs. He was very, very good."

Chopra concluded by pointing out that the Lucknow Super Giants were guilty of not making optimum use of Amit Mishra, which the Mumbai Indians did with Chawla. He added that the leg-spinner seemed to be MI's only reliable bowler until Akash Madhwal came to the fore.