Yuzvendra Chahal spoke fondly about his eight-year-long stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore, especially playing under the captaincy of Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League. Chahal, who was released by RCB at the end of the 2021 campaign, also said he would love to rejoin the team through the forthcoming mega auction.
While willing to give his team for whoever picks him, Chahal, in a chat with senior Indian spin partner R Ashwin over his Youtube channel, said he would love to go back to the side that has made him what he is today in terms of stature and repute in the Premier League.
“I don’t want to say I want [INR] 15 crore or something, eight crore is enough for me” so long as he dons the RCB jersey again and plays with his favourite “Virat bhaiyya”.
“I know Virat bhaiyya from the Under-15 days. We played together for one year [for North Zone]. When I went to RCB in 2014, I was very nervous – on the field too,”
he said during the chat.
Chahal also recalled an incident during his time with RCB where the team’s ex-coach Daniel Vettori told him to channelise his aggression well, and even if he has things to say, he should go up to similar-minded Kohli to say them following a breakthrough.
He also shed light on how Kohli and he used to work things out on the field. Chahal said Kohli’s biggest strength as skipper was that “he never tried to change me”, adding that he never imposed his thoughts on the bowler.
“We always had two plans, and the first plan was always mine. He would tell me, ‘You plan the way you want to bowl.’ It helped me because I have to bowl, so it helped to think about it, [and] get the field I wanted,”
the 31-year-old reminisced.
Chahal enters the auction for the IPL 2022 with the tag of one of the league’s finest-ever spinners. He boasts of 139 wickets from 114 matches with an economy of 7.59 despite playing his home games at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
