IPL 2023: Piyush Chawla reveals inspiration behind solid comeback this season

Piyush Chawla has been having quite the run in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL), with the Mumbai Indians (MI) leg-spinner among the most consistent performers with the ball so far this season.

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The 34-year-old, who has not represented the Indian team for more than a decade now, had a couple of lean seasons, having represented MI in just one match last year. Chawla, however, has been a different beast altogether this season, having collected 19 wickets at an average of 18.79 and an economy under eight that is among the best so far this season.

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And on Friday following MI’s victory over defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium, Chawla revealed the support that he had received from the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) and Parthiv Patel and how his six-year-old son played a big role in inspiring him to make a comeback in the world’s biggest T20 league.

“Well, I just wanted to make a comeback because that urge was there to play. Earlier, I never used to go to all the camps, but this year I attended all the camps. Gujarat Cricket Association helped me a lot, and Parthiv Patel helped me a lot. After that, I played in all the tournaments, DY Patil, Mushtaq Ali, and Vijay Hazare. I wanted to bowl in the matches, at the nets I have bowled enough,” Chawla said in an interaction with JioCinema after the match.

“It means a lot (this season) because it’s not only about the comeback. I wanted to play for my son as well because he had not seen me playing. When he saw me, he was too young. Now he has started understanding it better although he is still 6. But he really follows the game and understands the game. So I really wanted to play the game and do something special for him. He reviews the game immediately after the game. He sits with me or over a phone call. He is my biggest critic,” added Chawla.

Chawla grabbed two wickets for 36 runs as five-time champions MI registered a clinical victory over table leaders GT at the Wankhede Stadium to collect their seventh win of their season and boost their hopes of a top-four finish at the end of the group stage.

MI No 3 batter Suryakumar Yadav played a central role in the victory with an unbeaten 103 off 49 balls, his maiden IPL hundred, helping the home team post a formidable 218/5. GT would then lose wickets at regular intervals and were left staring at a massive defeat after getting reduced to 103/8 before Rashid Khan, who had earlier in the day collected 4/30, smashed an unbeaten 79 off off 32 deliveries to soften the blow for his side.

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