Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will become the second Indian player to represent Kent in County Championship Division One 2023. Chahal will play against Nottinghamshire, Lancashire in home clashes followed by an away fixture against Somerset.
Chahal is set to make his County debut on September 10, the same day India will play Pakistan in their Asia Cup 2023 Super Fours clash in Colombo.
“This is an exciting challenge for me, playing in English county cricket, and one I’m very much looking forward to,” Chahal said ahead of his maiden County stint.
Chahal will become the fifth Indian cricketer to represent Kent in the County Championship. Kanwar Shumshere Singh was the first followed by current head coach Rahul Dravid, Navedeep Saini, and Arshdeep Singh.
Kent's Director of Cricket Paul Downton is ecstatic to have Chahal in the absence of Matt Parkinson and Hami Qadri as he said, “We’re delighted to have secured a spinner of Yuzvendra’s quality for the last three Championship matches of the season, with Matt Parkinson not available to us until next year, and Hami Qadri recently injured.
“He is really looking forward to playing in English conditions and will bring a significant amount of skill and international experience to our squad.”
The announcement came a day after India’s squad for World Cup 2023 in home conditions was announced. Chahal did not make it into the squad as the team management wants someone who can contribute with the bat down the order as well. Hence, they have picked Axar Patel in the side.
Chahal is yet to make his Test debut. He made his First-Class debut in 2009. Since then, he has picked up 87 wickets at a strike rate of 67.44. His best bowling figures of 6/44 for Haryana came against Hyderabad. In his last First-Class game, he led Haryana. The leggie picked up three wickets against Odisha in a match that ended in a draw.
In white-ball cricket, Chahal has 21 ODI wickets and five T20I wickets on England soil including two four-fers.
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