It is time to give Yuzvendra Chahal the tag of legend: Sanju Samson

The 56^th game of the Indian Premier League 2023 will go down as a memorable game in the history of the tournament, as the clash between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders witnessed records being shattered. In the first innings, Yuzvendra Chahal picked up four wickets and became the all-time leading wicket-taker of the tournament. In the second innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal notched up to fastest IPL fifty in another historic moment from the game.

Chahal’s contributions with the ball (4/25) proved to be very beneficial for the Men in Pink, as they restricted Kolkata to 149 runs in their 20-overs quota, thereby setting themselves an easy target. As Chahal achieved a historic milestone in his career, RR skipper Sanju Samson was all praises for the spinner and said that it was the right time to give him the tag of a ‘legend’.

“I think it is time to give him the tag of legend. He’s been bowling like that for many years. Very grateful and lucky to have him in the franchise. You never need to speak to him. You just have to give him the ball and he knows what exactly to do. He’s a very brave bowler, who loves bowling under pressure. He bowls at the death as well. I am really very happy for him,” Samson said in the post-match presentation.

In the four wickets that Chahal took, his victims included Venkatesh Iyer, opposition skipper Nitish Rana, the in-form power-hitter Rinku Singh and all-rounder Shardul Thakur. Only four bowlers from the RR camp managed to pick wickets, and Chahal finished with the most to his name. The spinner is now the leading wickettaker in the tournament and leads the IPL 2023 Purple Cap race.

Rajasthan Royals' quest to a playoff berth

In Rajasthan’s previous game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chahal had leveled former Chennai Super Kings pacer Dwayne Bravo’s record of 184 wickets. In his next game, he picked up four wickets to take his all-time IPL tally to 188, as he remains just 12 wickets away from breaching the 200-mark. With two more games to go in the league stage, Rajasthan would be aiming to win all of those so as to seal a playoff berth.