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Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma has revealed the reason behind the acquisition of veteran leg-spinner Piyush Chawla during the IPL 2021 auction in February.
Piyush Chawla, who is the third-highest wicket-taker in IPL history (156 wickets), was released by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after a disappointing IPL 2020. Looking to add more experience to their spin bowling armoury, which already included Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar and Jayant Yadav, MI seized the opportunity and bought Chawla for INR 2.40 Crore.
Highlighting the immense experience bought in by the 32-year-old, Rohit Sharma backed Chawla to deliver whenever given an opportunity. In a video shared by MI on Twitter, Rohit Sharma said:
"He’s (Piyush Chawla) quite experienced in terms of playing IPL games and has been around for a number of years now. And he knows exactly what this team expects him to do. And I am pretty sure that he is going to be able to live by that. Because of his experience and the number of wickets he has taken in the IPL. He brings us that variety in our squad which we were looking for."
Piyush Chawla has had a distinguished IPL career so far, having played for Kings XI Punjab (2008-2013) and Kolkata Knight Riders (2014-2019) before turning out for CSK in their disastrous IPl 2020 season.
Piyush Chawla and Rohit Sharma have played together for India since their under-19 days, which is something the MI skipper believes will be a huge benefit when the duo step on the field during IPL 2021.
"I have played with him since our U-19 days, so I know him pretty well and he knows me well, and this will be a good camaraderie between both of us on the field,” concluded Rohit Sharma.
Piyush Chawla is also a handy batsman down the order and can use the long handle to good effect. In fact, when KKR won their second IPL trophy in 2014, it was the left-hander Chawla who scored the winning runs.
Piyush Chawla could also be a good mentor to young leggie Rahul Chahar, who has impressed over the last two seasons by picking up 28 wickets from 28 matches at an economy rate of just 7.41 runs per over.
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