Veteran leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was on top of his powers in match 16 of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Tuesday. Chawla picked up the wickets of Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell and Lalit Yadav, inspiring MI to their first win of the season. Chawla, who hasn't played for India since December 2012, was bought by MI for Rs 50 lakh during the IPL 2023 mini auction. He has picked four wickets in three matches so far.
While Chawla ran past the DC batting line-up, Makarand Waingankar, whose Twitter bio reads PhD in cricket, Sports Journalist for over 50 years & Cricket Management Consultant, wrote in a tweet: "Delhi Capitals ? No. It's Delhi Capitulates. Too many cricketing brains sitting in the dug out but in the middle their batsmen were clueless against a leggie who doesn't even plays for his state."
However, his remark didn't go down well with former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel, who commented on the tweet, saying: "That leggie is a 2 time World Cup winner with 161 ipl wickets his name is PIYUSH CHAWLA...and he does play for GUJARAT as a professional player."
Chawla, 34, was part of the Indian squads that won the inaugural ICC World T20 in 2007 and the ICC World Cup in 2011.
The last ODI Chawla played was in the 2011 World Cup. He made a Test comeback against England in 2012, but soon vanished into wilderness. Soon after the World T20 in Sri Lanka the same year, Chawla lost his place in the shortest format as well.
(With PTI Inputs)