Yuzvendra Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal Credits: Twitter

Indian ace spinner Yuzvendra Chahal surpassed the legendary Lasith Malinga to become the second-highest wicket-taker in the history of IPL. Chahal accomplished this historical landmark during Rajasthan Royals’ match against Punjab Kings in Guwahati.

The Indian star spinner now has 171 wickets in the Indian Premier League under his belt to go past Lasith Malinga’s 170 wickets in the cash-rich league.  Malinga, who represented Mumbai Indians (MI) for his entire career in IPL from 2009-19, has taken 170 wickets in 122 matches. Malinga is currently part of Rajasthan Royals as their bowling coach.

Chahal achieved this record when he dismissed Punjab Kings’ wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma in the 16th over. The veteran spinner is the only Indian bowler to pick 170+ wickets in the cash-rich league. Dwayne Bravo is the leading wicket-taker as he picked up 183 wickets in 161 matches as a Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings player.

Earlier, during their first match of the 2023 edition, Yuzvendra Chahal picked up four wickets against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and by doing so, he became the first Indian bowler to take 300 or more wickets in T20 cricket. In addition, he broke the record of the legendary Amit Mishra as the leading wicket-taker by India in IPL history.

Yuzvendra Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal Credits: Twitter

With still 12 matches to go in the league stage, Chahal will look to surpass the record of Dwayne Bravo’s 183 wickets in the cash-rich league. Another Rajasthan Royals spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has 159 wickets to his name.

Coming into their match against Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals fell short of victory by 5 runs despite an excellent cameo by Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel at the end of the innings.

Hopefully, Something New Will Come – Yuzvendra Chahal On His Plan For IPL 2023

Yuzvendra Chahal, speaking after his match against Sunrisers Hyderabad spoke about his plan for the season, stating that varying the pace is his strength for him and reckoned that he would hope to get some more wickets in the season.

“I planned to vary my pace and bowl stump to stump. It is always my strength. I am doing nothing new and I am just backing my strengths. We will see when I get five wickets or anything, hopefully, something new will come,” Chahal said.

Yuzvendra Chahal played a vital role in the Rajasthan Royal’s campaign in IPL 2022. The team is expected to do well in the tournament, having played in the finals where they lost to Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Giants.

Rajasthan Royals will take on Delhi Capitals on their third game of the league on April 8, in their first-afternoon game of the season.