5 maidens, 5 wickets; Yuzvendra Chahal makes strong statement for his Champions Trophy contention with stunning debut in One-day Cup

Northamptonshire had announced the arrival of Yuzvendra Chahal less than an hour before their final match of the One-day Cup. The team had said that he would be available for the match as well as the remaining matches of the red-ball season. As soon as Chahal joined the lineup against Kent, the fans were completely shocked. This is the same team for which he played three county championship matches last year.

Kent decided to bat first but within some time this decision proved to be wrong. Justin Broad dismissed Marcus O'Riordan in the first over while Luke Procter dismissed Joey Evison and Harry Finch. After this, Broad dismissed Jack Leaning and sent 4 batters back to the pavilion when Kent's score was just a mere 15 by 5.3 overs.

Chahal picks five maidens and five wickets

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Yuzvendra Chahal came into attack in the 13th over of the innings and gave away 10 runs in his first two overs, but wicketkeeper Lewis McManus performed a brilliant stumping on the first ball of Chahal's third over. This stumping helped Chahal dismiss Ekansh Singh to get his first wicket. This over was a wicket-maiden. In his fourth over, he dismissed Denly as the left-handed batsman attempted a sweep shot, but missed and found himself out LBW. Two balls later, new batsman Beyers Swanepoel went to Chahal on the back foot, but he met the same fate as Denly.

Chahal took his fourth wicket in his fifth over. Grant Stewart tried to play a shot but it went straight to slip standing next to the keeper. He completed five wickets in his ninth over, when Nathan Gilchrist sent a short delivery straight into the hands of Raphael Weatherall.

Chahal gave away 14 runs in his 10-over spell and this included 5 maidens and 5 wickets. He made the best figures for Northamptonshire. The result of Chahal's bowling was that 9 batters of the opposing team were out for 67 runs only. Only four runs were spent in his last eight overs which included five wickets and five maidens. Broad took the final wicket in the 36th over, bowling out Kent for 82, their lowest List A score against Northamptonshire.

The star spinner would be hoping to find his way back into the ODI squad of the Indian cricket team and to be a part of the Men in Blue side that will participate in the upcoming edition of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. He was part of the Indian T20 World Cup 2024 winning team but did not get to play even a single match. He was not even a part of the ODI World Cup 2023 team but would like to add his name in another ICC trophy-winning team as India would try to claim the Champions Trophy once again.
 

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