Rajasthan Royals spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal has been sensational in the IPL 2022. The combination has helped the side win multiple matches in the ongoing tournament. Ex-Indian cricketer Deep Dasgupta lavished praise on the partnership.
Speaking on a CricTracker show, Dasgupta said that leg-spinner Chahal has evolved into a significantly better version of himself, and the experience of playing at a small ground such as Chinnaswamy Stadium has helped him.
“Yuzi obviously has evolved, and you can call it Yuzi 2.0. He is bowling with smartness and has an experience in bowling on small grounds and flat pitches,”
said Dasgupta.
Chahal is the leading wicket-taker in the IPL 2022, having picked 19 wickets in just nine games at an average of 13.68. Ashwin is the most economical bowler for the Royals, conceding runs at 6.97 rpo and picking eight wickets.
Ashwin is generally termed as an off-spinner. But he has plenty of variations up his sleeve that make him very different from a conventional off-spinner. Dasgupta said that Ashwin is a proper mystery spinner and has bowled with different variations.
“Ashwin has been very good in the sense that if anyone is a mystery bowler at the moment it is him only. Until now, he has bowled his traditional off-spinners on very few occasions and has instead used a carrom ball and flippers. He is using different variations and has been a revelation to a great extent,”
he added.
Rajasthan Royals have been superb in the ongoing edition, winning six out of nine matches so far. Apart from Chahal and Ashwin, they have found consistent performances from Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Sanju Samson and Prasidh Krishna.
They are placed second on the points table with a healthy net run-rate and look almost certain for the playoffs. Samson’s men next play against Kolkata Knight Riders on May 2.
