‘Wanted to Show How Good I’m’: 34-Year-Old India Star Proves His Case for Test Debut in England

Far away from India’s home season, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal is plying his trade in the ongoing County Championship. He kicked off his stint in the United Kingdom with just one wicket for Northamptonshire in the first two games before making a stunning comeback. The Indian leg-spinner scapled 18 wickets in the next two games with his best figures of 5/45, against Derbyshire.

So far, Chahal has played 39 First-class matches and has picked 115 wickets at an average of 24.91. However, the 34-year-old is yet to play Test cricket for India. Following a terrific run in the UK, Chahal is looking forward to being a part of India’s squad for England tour next year.

“County cricket is tough cricket. It allowed me to showcase my skills against a very good standard of cricket. With India touring England next year, I wanted to show how good I am,” Chahal told the Times of India.

Chahal worked his magic to grab five wickets in his second successive match as Northamptonshire resisted a Leicestershire fight-back to secure a nine-wicket win in the English County Championship.

Following up on his 4/82 in the first innings, Chahal claimed 5/134 — a nine-wicket match haul — as Northants bowled out Leicestershire for 316 to set an easy target of 137 in the Division Two County Championship last Thursday.

Leicestershire, after resuming the final day on 69/4, recovered through strong batting from Scott Currie and Tom Scriven (48), with Currie reaching a century (120) before being dismissed by Chahal for his fifth wicket. He dismissed key players, including skipper Lewis Hill (14) with a well-pitched delivery that turned sharply, and Liam Trevaskis (2) with a catch at short leg.

In the previous match, Chahal had claimed 5/45 and 4/45 in Northants’ 133-run win over Derbyshire.

India are set to play a five-match Test series in England in June-July next year. But before flying to the UK next year, the team has been grinding to finalise its place in a third consecutive World Test Championship final.

On the other hand, Chahal was part of the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning Indian team, and he was also involved in captain Rohit Sharma’s famous distinctive walk to the podium to receive the trophy that went viral on social media.