UP’s Chawla will now play for Gujarat.
UTTAR PRADESH leg-spinner Piyush Chawla is all set to shift base for the upcoming domestic season. After spending nearly a dozen years representing his home state of Uttar Pradesh in all domestic competitions, the leg-spinner will be part of Parthiv Patel’s Gujarat team who will be looking to defend their Ranji Trophy crown from last season.
Chawla, 28, has been around the Indian cricket scene for well over a decade but has played in just three Tests between 2006 and 2012 and taken 7 wickets. And most of his 386 first-class wickets came in the nearly 100 matches he played for Uttar Pradesh. Chawla will be the second UP cricketer to move west to Gujarat after another mainstay, RP Singh, made a similar shift two years ago.
Chawla though like RP didn’t cite any issue with his home team for taking the decision to move. “I had a word with Parthiv (Gujarat captain) and expressed my intention to play for Gujarat. There is no specific reason of me leaving UP. I have explained my point of view to the UPCA and they got my point,” Chawla told The Indian Express explaining the shift.
Chawla broke into the Indian team when he was still only 17 and was touted to be a future star while making his debut against England at Mohali in 2006. But he’s somehow never lived up to that early hype and has since been overshadowed by a number of other spinners, including fellow leg-spinner Amit Mishra. It is only recently, however, that he’s slipped out of the reckoning, coming to the fore more during the IPL season after season for two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders. Considering how young he is—he’s the same age as Ravindra Jadeja and two years younger than R Ashwin—it’s unlikely that Chawla has given up on a possible India recall.
And it’s not surprising to hear him mention the more spinner-friendly pitches in the western part of the country as having been one of the key reasons behind the move. Gujarat play mostly at Valsad and Surat, which have seen spinners dominate proceedings.
Chawla only played two Ranji games for UP last year and managed all of two wickets. But he’s expecting to play a more integral and significant role for his new team as a professional player. A role, he feels, like RP who was one of the stars of Gujarat’s Ranji win last season. UP’s failure to win a major trophy over the last decade could well have been another factor behind Chawla turning professional.
The presence of Kuldeep Yadav, who’s now emerged as a major future hope for India, in the UP squad meant that Chawla was no longer the primary spinner.
“As a player it’s quite exciting to join a team which has won 3 trophies in the last 3 years. It’s not that I was not happy in UP but something was missing. I want to add value to the team. When you go as a professional you have that added responsibility on your shoulders. The pressure is different, which often enhances your performance,” he added.
