But the wily leggie is having a ball with five-time champions Mumbai within the Indian Premier League, the place spinners with expertise are price their weight in gold.
Chawla is fourth on this IPL on the wickets desk with 17 scalps to his title.
It is a exceptional reversal of fortunes for the participant fondly referred to as “PC”, who went unsold within the 2022 IPL public sale so didn’t play.
Mumbai Indians signed the wrist-spinner at his base worth of $61,000 for the present marketing campaign — and he has repaid that religion in spades.
“Last year when I wasn’t around in the IPL, a lot of people probably didn’t think PC could come back,” Chawla informed AFP in an interview.
“But I was prepared mentally that I had to come back.”
Chawla is third within the all-time IPL bowlers checklist with 174 wickets, behind Lasith Malinga (now retired) and Yuzvendra Chahal, each with 183.
“Right from the beginning my thought process is to go for wickets because in T20 batters are trying to get more runs,” Chawla stated.
“The best way to choke the run-rate is to get wickets.”
Chawla has fond recollections of cleansing up Tendulkar — India’s cricketing deity — with a googly in 2005, a match through which the then-16-year-old additionally outfoxed MS Dhoni for good measure.
A yr later Chawla was picked for the nationwide aspect towards England, changing into India’s second-youngest Test debutant after Tendulkar and eradicating opposition captain Andrew Flintoff.
At Mumbai, the place Tendulkar is the crew “mentor”, Chawla retains himself sharp bowling at one of the best of T20 expertise together with teammates Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David and Cameron Green.
“When I go in the nets and bowl against them and the kind of red-hot form Surya is in, if I can stop him in the nets from hitting, it means I am ready for the team,” stated Chawla.
“The way Surya manipulates the field, he is in a different zone altogether. Tim David is a dangerous customer when he comes lower down the order,” he stated.
“When I bowl to him, I make sure I am working out that in some of the games if I get a player like him, I am ready.”
Chawla was a part of India’s two World Cup victories, in 2007 and 2011, however his stop-start worldwide profession noticed him play solely three Tests, 25 ODIs and 7 T20 matches.
He had stints at Sussex and Somerset in England, and has been a journeyman within the IPL, enjoying beforehand for Punjab, Kolkata and Chennai.
But his late-career kind has seen chatter about an unlikely return to the Indian crew.
“To be honest, I am not thinking too far ahead for anything,” he stated.
“I am just enjoying my cricket at the moment and I take it step by step.”
Chawla, who’s 5 foot 5 (1.7 metres), clearly is not within the health club as a lot as super-fit Virat Kohli, who is identical age. But Chawla is not bothered about how he seems from the skin.
“To be honest if you talk about fitness, it’s not just that looking slim is fit,” he stated.
“I have been playing for almost 19-20 years… so I must have done something right regarding my fitness.
“Everybody is completely different, everyone’s construction is completely different.
“If you ask a fish to climb a tree, that’s not going to happen.”
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com