I'm captain now, and you are playing: When Rohit Sharma assured Yuzvendra Chahal a place in Mumbai Indians' XI
Yuzvendra Chahal is one of the players, who made it big through good performances in Indian Premier League, which resulted into his national team call-up. Chahal, who played most of the career for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL, debuted with Mumbai Indians.
Chahal joined the Mumbai camp in 2011 but he didn't get much chances their due to the presence of other senior spinners like Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha.
The leg-spinner recalled his time with Mumbai Indians and revealed he was under pressure before bowling his first over in Champions League T20.
"When I joined MI, there were three spinners including me. During the Champions League T-20 that year, only 13 players from our squad were available. Rest were injured. So I had a feeling that I would get to play and so I did," Chahal said in the latest episode of ESPNcricinfo 'One on One' show.
Chahal said he learnt a lot from Harbhajan and Ojha in the nets of Mumbai Indians.
"There was a bit of pressure at the start at but I was fine once I bowled my first over. That's when I realized that T20 format is more of a mind game. If you are a professional cricketer, pressure won't bother you. Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha were very helpful. I learnt a lot by bowling with them in the nets and staying around the team."
Chahal made his IPL debut in 2013 under Rohit Sharma's new captaincy. He says, "After Rohit became the captain of MI he came and told me that I am playing the coming game. I told him that there were already two senior spinners in the team. To which he said, ‘I'm the captain now, and you are playing.' He had faith in me because of my performance in the Champions League T20, and he was keen to play me at any opportunity."
Chahal was later picked up by RCB in the 2014 IPL auction. Although, RCB had established spinners like Muttiah Muralitharan and Shadab Jakati, Chahal was told that he is going to play the first game.
"I performed well in the practice matches and got support from Daniel Vettori (coach) and Virat Kohli (captain). I played my first match against Delhi and won the Man-of-the-Match title. That boosted my confidence and helped me with my performance throughout the season."
Chahal is now one of the key players of RCB's camp alongside Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.
