Chennai: Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma on Thursday said Piyush Chawla was a very good buy in the players' auction as his franchise needed an all-out attacking spinner.
The IPL 2021 will commence on Friday with Mumbai Indians locking horns against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Chawla has played 164 matches in the IPL so far, managing to take 156 wickets at an economy rate of 7.87. He has played for franchises like Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings. He was bought by Mumbai Indians for Rs 2.40 crore in the players' auction held in February 2021.
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"I have played with Piyush since U-19 days and I know he is a very attacking bowler which is something we wanted in our spin bowling department. He was a good buy, to get him into our squad. He is one of the highest wicket-takers in the IPL. He knows the format and opposition, he knows the players," Rohit said in a video posted on the official Twitter account of Mumbai Indians.
Speaking about playing for Mumbai Indians in the upcoming edition of the IPL, Chawla said: "I got to know that I have been picked by Mumbai Indians at the auction, so I was quite happy and excited because you want to be a part of the team which is a defending champion and that has done so well in the IPL. So it's really nice."
"I have seen Rahul, I have played cricket with Jayant Yadav and Krunal Pandya. It is very important to share each other's experiences. There would be many things that I know and they wouldn't, it works vice-versa as well," he added.
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Zaheer Khan, Mumbai Indians' Director of Cricket Operations, also said that Piyush has the capability of bowling with the new ball hence the side picked him in the auction.
"He has been bowling with the new ball so that has also been a point of discussion when we were looking at finding that experienced leg-spinner. We also have Rahul Chahar in the team who is a upcoming young talent. Experience of Piyush will help him. Piyush has been in pressure situations, he has a big role to play and hopefully, will be able to mentor other spinners in the squad," said Zaheer.
