Piyush Chawla's top 5 moments in the IPL ft. 2014 final

Piyush Chawla, noted for being a part of the Indian side for two World Cup-winning titles (T20 in 2007 and ODI in 2011), called it a day from professional cricket earlier on Friday, June 6. The leg-spinner was last seen playing for Uttar Pradesh in the 2024-25 domestic season. He last turned up in the IPL for Mumbai Indians in 2024.

In the IPL, Chawla is most fondly remembered for being a vital part of the Kings XI Punjab (now rebranded to Punjab Kings) from 2008 to 2013. He then became part of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, and MI. Chawla ended his days as IPL's third-highest wicket-taker with 192 scalps.

In this piece, we take a look at Chawla's top five moments in the IPL:

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#5 3-24 vs Mumbai Indians, 2010

Chawla was hardly 23 years old in the 2010 edition of the IPL, and played a memorable role in his team, Kings XI Punjab, beating Mumbai Indians in Mohali. MI batted first and put up a modest total of 154-9. Chawla accounted for the great Sachin Tendulkar in this innings, bowling the maestro off a straighter one.

Alongside Tendulkar, Chawla also sent back the likes of Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary in this innings. In reply, KXIP were able to chase this target down in 18.4 overs, with skipper Kumar Sangakkara scoring 56 off just 42 deliveries. Although the Lankan won the player of the match award, Chawla too was in contention for it.

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#4 4-32 vs Delhi Daredevils, 2015

Chawla picked up a four-wicket haul for Kolkata Knight Riders against Delhi Daredevils at the Eden Gardens in IPL 2015, and helped them script a 13-run win. For his 4-32, Chawla also earned the player of the match award, helped in large amounts by the 19-ball 22 he scored with the bat in hand.

Batting first, KKR put up 171-7 on the board, with Chawla helping them out after being asked to bat at number four by skipper Gautam Gambhir, presumably to alter the left-hand, right-hand combination.

Later on, with the ball, Chawla accounted for four of the six DD batters to fall, sending Manoj Tiwary, Jean-Paul Duminy, Kedar Jadhav, and Yuvraj Singh back to the hut.

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#3 4-17 vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 2011

Piyush Chawla was a favourite of Adam Gilchrist.

One of Chawla's best moments in the IPL came in the 2011 edition of the tournament, in which he picked up his career-best figures of 4-17 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, while turning up for Kings XI Punjab in Dharamsala. Batting first, KXIP ran up 232-2 thanks to an Adam Gilchrist century (106).

In reply, RCB struggled to understand the surface and were bamboozled by Chawla, who picked up 4-17, and Ryan Harris, who returned with figures of 3-28. In this game, Chawla accounted for AB De Villiers, Mohammad Kaif, Arun Karthik, and Johan van der Wath's wickets, helping KXIP to an 11-run victory.

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#2 Not bowling a no-ball in his first 386 overs

One of Chawla's most significant achievements in the IPL is not bowling a single no-ball until his 386th over! This is memorable given that modern-day bowlers, especially tweakers, are not known for their discipline and usually pay the price for trying to be too lavish with their actions.

Chawla bowled his first no-ball in the tournament in its 2016 edition, when turning up for Kolkata Knight Riders against Delhi Daredevils. Known for his control while not compromising with flight and turn, Chawla was an anomaly among modern-day leg-spinners, who are slowly becoming an endangered species.

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#1 Hitting the winning runs for KKR in the 2014 final

Even Chawla will admit that the most memorable moment of his IPL career came when he hit the winning runs for KKR in the 2014 final. This was KKR's second title under Gautam Gambhir, after having first won the tournament in 2012. Played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, this game was a high-scoring affair.

Kings XI Punjab, KKR's opponents, batted first and scored 199-4 thanks to a Wriddhiman Saha century (115 not out). Chawla picked up two wickets with the ball while conceding 44 runs. In response, Manish Pandey played a blinder of a knock for KKR (94), but when Suryakumar Yadav got out in the 19th over, it was up to Chawla to hit the winning runs.

He did this with precision, slicing a low and wide full toss from Parvinder Awana over point and winning the title for KKR in the last over.