Yuzvendra Chahal was the star for Rajasthan Royals (RR) during their match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), picking up a five-for to gift his team a win in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 fixture on Monday (April 18). His crucial spell included a hat-trick, as well as dismissing dangerous players like Venkatesh Iyer, Pat Cummins and Shreyas Iyer.
After picking up his first hat-trick in the IPL, Chahal ran towards his left, put in a slide and kept his right arm over his crossed legs, and held his pose. The leg-spinner's unique celebration caught the attention of cricket fans, who began to draw similarities with his same pose during a 2019 World Cup match against Sri Lanka, giving rise to a meme-fest.
Chahal was asked about his celebration in the post-match presentation ceremony after being awarded the Player of the Match, "It's my old meme. In the 2019 World Cup, I thought I was in the boundary (sidelines) as I didn't play that match and a meme (on my posture) became very popular," Chahal said.
The leg-spinner notched 5/40, including four wickets in a single over. Before that, Chahal was quite expensive, conceding 38 runs in his first three overs. Chahal said that he knew he had to pick up the important wickets when captain Sanju Samson threw him the ball in the 17th over.
"I knew in my mind that I have to take wickets in this over (hat-trick over) and that's the only way the game would change," Chahal said.
The leggie removed Venkatesh on his first delivery. After consecutive singles, he scalped Shreyas, Shivam Mavi, and Cummins off his fourth, fifth, and sixth balls, completely turning the match on its head.
His performance also earned praise from RR's bowling coach, the legendary Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga. "Chahal has more international experience. He is the most experienced leg-spinner in the country and this tournament. He showed how to control the skill. That's more important for him going forward to prove he is good enough to play any competitive cricket," Malinga said at the post-match press conference.
"Leg-spinners have more wicket-taking options and he showed today how he can get wickets and changed the game in a single over. I think he showed all the leg-spinners that they are the match-winning bowlers in this competition," he added.
