Piyush Chawla: An indispensable cog in Mumbai Indians' bowling attack

This has not been an Indian Premier League (IPL) season Mumbai Indians (MI) will remember very fondly. Yes, there have been some positives – their premier fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, has been amongst the wickets, and Suryakumar Yadav has been amongst the runs, to go with glimpses of some good performances from youngsters like Naman Dhir and Tilak Varma.

However, for a couple of seasons now, Piyush Chawla’s performance cannot be ignored. Yes, he did not have the best of starts to the IPL this season, but in the last three games, he has returned to his very best. 

He has gone a little more fuller in his last three matches and hasn't bowled too many short deliveries.

However, he did deploy his short delivery to good effect against Andre Russell on May 11 (Saturday), who was surprised by the length and pulled it straight to the man at deep square leg. Talk about thinking out of the box!

Chawla may have peaked a little late this season, but he is doing all he can to ensure that the five-time champions walk away from the tournament with their heads held high. There’s no doubt that he is a genuine wicket-taker. He has picked up a wicket off his first over on 47 occasions in the IPL, and more recently, he went past Dwayne Bravo to become the second-highest wicket-taker in IPL history.

Even last season, Chawla was MI’s highest wicket-taker with 22 wickets (Econ 8.11), playing a pivotal role in his side qualifying for the playoffs. With no Bumrah in IPL 2023, and Jofra Archer, the multi-million buy being off-colour, MI did not have a spearhead, and that’s where the experienced Chawla took over the mantle and dragged the bowling attack with him, helping them to Qualifier 2, after pipping Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Eliminator.

Any team would have been proud of what they achieved, given how under-par their bowling attack was, but MI did not win five IPL titles being satisfied with such achievements. 

They had a chance to rectify their spin department in the IPL 2024 auction. They did get a couple of uncapped leg spinners in Shreyas Gopal and Shivalik Sharma at base price. They could have also gone for Wanindu Hasaranga, Ish Sodhi, Adil Rashid, and Akeal Hosein, among other world-class spinners. 

The fact that MI did not go for any of them shows that they indeed trusted Chawla, especially after a stellar season he had for them in 2023. His slow start to the season has certainly prevented MI from making the playoffs. 

With everyone focusing on the upcoming T20 World Cup, you could not blame anyone if they failed to notice the 35-year-old’s performances in the last three games. If anything, he has shown the hunger and the aptitude to hone his skills further, and is still performing at the top level on a consistent basis. 

Ten years ago, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Chawla hit the winning runs to help KKR win the title. While he may not have won the coveted trophy since, his bowling has kept evolving and he continues to surpass expectations almost every season. Every time you think you have seen the end of Chawla, he weaves his magic like only he could.

Whether we see him next year or not, Chawla will go down as one of the greatest bowlers this tournament has seen. Not too shabby for someone who was calling the shots in the commentary box in IPL 2022.

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