Kolkata, May 8 (IANS) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) leggie Piyush Chawla, who spun his side to victory against Delhi Daredevils at the Eden Gardens here, says he always aims to go for wickets.
“I always go for wickets as a leg-spinner. I never think of containing the batsmen because that does not work. The moment you think of containing the batsmen, then you become defensive. You may go for runs as well when you bowl to take wickets but at the same time you can only win matches by taking wickets,” said Chawla on Thursday.
The 26-year-old, who has 109 Indian Premier League (IPL) scalps from 108 outings, returned with figures of 4/32 as KKR trounced Delhi by 13 runs.
“The season is going well for me. The good thing is I am getting wickets and whenever my captain calls me to bowl I am getting wickets,” said Chawla, who was named Man of the Match.
Having conceded 23 runs in his first spell of two overs, Chawla made strong comeback taking the prized scalps of Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav and Delhi skipper J.P. Duminy.
“It’s about how strongly you come back if you go for runs in the first two overs. At that time I was planning to get some wickets. That’s the only thing through which I contain batsmen. They were taking their chances especially against me. I knew they would look to go after me and I just needed to bowl in good areas,” said Chawla.
The tweaker also had words of praise for fellow spinner Sunil Narine, who returned to the playing eleven after being cleared of suspect bowling action.
“We all know how good a bowler he is. We can all see how strongly he came back after the ups and downs. He’s a class act,” said Chawla.
Promoted to bat at No.4, the southpaw also came good with the bat, hitting 22 off 19 balls, including a six.
“Two leg-spinners were bowling at that time so the captain sent me as I am left-hander, to take them on. But they were taken out of the attack and I kept on waiting for them,” added Chawla.