New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Piyush Chawla said on Tuesday that he was delighted to have reached 100 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The leggie finished with figures of 4-0-27-2 against Delhi Daredevils at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Monday to reach the landmark as the defending champions beat the hosts by six wickets. Buoyed by their back-to-back victories, defending champions KKR will aim to continue the winning run when they take on the inconsistent Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
“I am happy because we all know it is a prestigious tournament. Players from across the world come to play in this tournament and it is quite challenging. Reaching that landmark of 100 wickets is something I will cherish,” Chawla was quoted as saying by iplt20.com.
Besides Chawla, the others to have taken 100 wickets in the tournament are Mumbai Indians’ Lasith Malinga, who leads the chart for the most wickets in IPL with 124 scalps, followed by Amit Mishra (106) and Harbhajan Singh (100).
Asked if batsmen’s approach to leg-spinners in Twenty20 has changed over time, Chawla said, “Lot of leg-spinners have picked wickets in recent times. Batsmen sometimes look at a leg-spinner as a scoring option. On the other hand, we leg-spinners have [used] that attacking thinking [to our advantage] as well.
“We know that we might go for a couple of boundaries but [at the same time] we might get wickets. As a leg-spinner I am more than happy conceding two boundaries and getting a wicket.”
Hyderabad, who lost to Delhi in their previous encounter and are currently lying sixth on the table with three losses and one win, face a must-win game.
The defeat against Delhi was morale-crushing to say the least, given that Hyderabad fell short by a mere four runs. Considering the situation in which the team is currently in, the think-tank has much to sort in a line-up which relies heavily on foreign imports as far as impact players are concerned.
Their batting seems fragile if the opening duo of skipper David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan fails to give a good start. In fact, even that wasn’t enough in their previous match against Delhi where the middle order let the side down.
Hyderabad’s bowling is spearheaded by New Zealander Trent Boult, South African star Dale Steyn and a lot would depend on what he can extract from his four overs along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
