The former Indian leg-spinner, Piyush Chawla, who has won two World Cups with the Blue Brigade, looked back at the time when veterans like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag helped him during the time he made his international debut as an 18-year-old kid. He remembered the backing he got from the seniors.
By the time the leg-spinner made his Test debut in 2006, Piyush Chawla was around 18 years old, against England in Mohali, as he picked up only seven wickets in three games he played, the last of which came six years later.
The 35-year-old has featured in 136 first-class games, where he has picked up 445 wickets at an average of under 33 and a strike rate of below 60, celebrating 23 five-wicket hauls, with the best figures of 6/46 in an innings.
“It’s very important for a youngster to get support from seniors”- Piyush Chawla
The veteran bowler Piyush Chawla represented India at the U-19 stage when he was only 15, but he caused a stir among the domestic batters of the side when he went past the stumps of Sachin Tendulkar with a wrong’un during the Challengers Trophy final in 2005. In the same game, he dismissed both MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh.
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He backed the golden performances with an even better outing for UP in the Ranji Trophy, where he took 35 wickets and scored 224 runs to help the side win their very first trophy of the tournament, as he earned the call in the national side in February-March 2006.
In his debut game, another right-arm pacer of the side, Munaf Patel, too made his debut, as he made the work hard for the England batters, dismissing the opponent captain Andrew Flintoff, Liam Plunkett, and Kevin Pietersen in the first innings.
Things didn’t go smoothly for Piyush Chawla, who went wicketless, going for only 45 runs in the nine overs he bowled. Pietersen was one of the reasons, as he smashed the spinner all around the park in the first innings of the game. Because he went after the young bowler from the start with a couple of slog sweeps and lofted one over long-off, it destroyed the line and length.
“The way everyone backed me. It’s very important for a youngster who has just walked into the side to get support from the seniors. In my first Test match, Pietersen hit me to different parts of the ground.” Piyush Chawla remembered in a recent podcast. “And gave a statement after that: ‘Whether it is Shane Warne or a 17-year-old kid, I bat this way’. That experience was like ‘welcome to international cricket‘.”
The Aligarh-born expressed how he soon realized the difference between domestic cricket and international cricket. In 25 ODIs, he has 32 scalps at an average of under 35 and an economy rate of 5.10, with the help of two four-wicket hauls.
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“I almost had a five-wicket haul in every second match in domestic cricket. It appeared like things were very easy, but when I played my first Test, I realized why international cricket is so difficult.” Piyush Chawla noted in the podcast on the ‘2 Sloggers’ YouTube channel.
Towards the start of his career, he was supported by the seniors immensely, as he named Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Yuvraj Singh.
“Sachin paaji came. Viru bhai talked to me in his way. Then Yuvi paaji and Mahi bhai. I can’t say they were friends because they were very senior.” Piyush Chawla, the two-time World Cup winner concluded.