IPL 2022 | RR vs MI | How to successfully annul the effect of Yuzvendra Chahal?

The most successful team of IPL, Mumbai Indians (MI) are going through the worst season in their history. They have played eight matches and are yet to get off the mark in the points table.

Their next assignment is against the in-form Rajasthan Royals (RR). MI have their task cut out and they have to bring their A game to stop the Royal side. The biggest obstacle for the Men in Blue will be the wily leg-spinner of Rajasthan, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Let’s try and find an approach that Mumbai can adapt against Yuzi

Yuzvendra Chahal in IPL 2022: Chahal is displaying the best of his bowling skills in the 15th edition of IPL. He has picked up 18 wickets in 8 matches and is currently the purple cap holder. He is picking up a wicket every 10 balls in the tournament, which ensures two wickets every match at the least from him. The stats show that he is in the form of his life and will pose the biggest threat to the MI's batting.

Let us have a look at Yuzi’s record against the MI batters

Yuzvendra Chahal vs Mumbai batters

Tilak Varma and Dewald Brevis have not faced enough of Chahal. Hence, we will check their records against the leg-spinners in the tournament.

Tilak Varma and Dewald Brevis vs Leg-spin in IPL 2022

Observations: Yuzi has a decent record against most of the MI batters. Even if he has not dismissed a few of them enough times to be declared the clear winner, he has kept them quiet. In the case of Varma and Brevis, we see that Varma is very comfortable against leg-spin. On the other hand, Brevis likes to attack the leggies, but also gets dismissed against them quite frequently.

Plan Against Chahal: Chahal is someone who thrives even more as a bowler if he gets a wicket early in his spell. So, the first task for MI will be to play out the initial overs of Chahal.

But playing out all the four overs from a bowler can prove costly if the bigger picture is kept in mind. The best person as per stats would be Tilak Varma. So, get him in if a wicket falls and let him play Chahal and see how things go.

Also, the fact that Brevis likes to attack leg-spinners can be used to their advantage. The team management should task Brevis with the job of taking on Chahal, and giving him the freedom that failure won’t cost him his place in the team. The counter-attack from Brevis can put Chahal off his rhythm and thus benefit MI.