<p>Bengaluru: You can’t keep good men down for long, not least when the men in question are the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal. </p><p>Firstly, he chose to become a leg-spinner, which is one of the toughest art forms to get right let alone perfect it. Secondly, he did exceptionally well for Indian white-ball teams and is also the highest wicket-taker in the history of the Indian Premier League. </p><p>But, he hasn’t played for India since 2023, and was ‘painfully’ let go of by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru before the 2022 auction. Though he was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for a nice chunk of change, Chahal hadn’t been in his elements, meek almost after his exit from RCB. </p><p>Which is also why it seemed a bit much when Punjab Kings shelled out a grand Rs 18 crore for his services ahead of the 2025 season. Worse, he didn’t seem to justify the tag by conceding 176 runs from the first six games with only four wickets. </p><p>Then came April 15. Against the Kolkata Knight Riders, defending a mere 110, Chahal came with figures of 4 for 28. </p><p>Fresh from having found his rhythm and mojo, he now comes to Bengaluru to give his former side another reason to worry when RCB take on Shreyas Iyer’s Punjab on Friday. </p><p>The primary concern for RCB, though placed third on the table with four wins from six games, is that they’re yet to enjoy the privileges of home at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. The only losses they have endured this season have both come on a perplexing surface and in front of their faithful. </p>.RCB sues Uber Moto over YouTube ad featuring SRH’s Travis Head.<p><strong>Mental block</strong></p><p>While they would want to remedy it before this pattern turns into a mental block, they are coming off a particularly pleasing win against the Rajasthan Royals from a few days ago and will want to build on it. </p><p>Besides the bowlers holding the Royals down to a manageable 173, the batting unit was barely stretched with the top three - Phil Salt, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal - wrapping up the game in haste. </p><p>The difference, though, is that the strip in Jaipur played without drama and RCB’s free-flowing top-order capitalised. There is potential to make use of the dew in Bengaluru too, but skipper Rajat Patidar has lost both the tosses here, giving the opposition the advantage. </p><p>The skipper, obviously, isn’t at fault for this, but that’s precisely the sort of luck that needs to go RCB’s way if they are to end this run at home. </p><p>That said, Chahal understands these dimensions, how this crowd is RCB’s 12th man, what to do when confronted by dew, how to switch things up when batters are in flow, what fields to set to improve his chances of success and so on when bowling second. </p><p>It didn’t seem like it a while, but now he seems to have found himself, and he didn’t need to reinvent himself to get there. He needed to experience just that one game where the ball comes out of his hands just right. That happened. Onto the next! </p>
<p>Bengaluru: You can’t keep good men down for long, not least when the men in question are the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal. </p><p>Firstly, he chose to become a leg-spinner, which is one of the toughest art forms to get right let alone perfect it. Secondly, he did exceptionally well for Indian white-ball teams and is also the highest wicket-taker in the history of the Indian Premier League. </p><p>But, he hasn’t played for India since 2023, and was ‘painfully’ let go of by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru before the 2022 auction. Though he was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for a nice chunk of change, Chahal hadn’t been in his elements, meek almost after his exit from RCB. </p><p>Which is also why it seemed a bit much when Punjab Kings shelled out a grand Rs 18 crore for his services ahead of the 2025 season. Worse, he didn’t seem to justify the tag by conceding 176 runs from the first six games with only four wickets. </p><p>Then came April 15. Against the Kolkata Knight Riders, defending a mere 110, Chahal came with figures of 4 for 28. </p><p>Fresh from having found his rhythm and mojo, he now comes to Bengaluru to give his former side another reason to worry when RCB take on Shreyas Iyer’s Punjab on Friday. </p><p>The primary concern for RCB, though placed third on the table with four wins from six games, is that they’re yet to enjoy the privileges of home at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. The only losses they have endured this season have both come on a perplexing surface and in front of their faithful. </p>.RCB sues Uber Moto over YouTube ad featuring SRH’s Travis Head.<p><strong>Mental block</strong></p><p>While they would want to remedy it before this pattern turns into a mental block, they are coming off a particularly pleasing win against the Rajasthan Royals from a few days ago and will want to build on it. </p><p>Besides the bowlers holding the Royals down to a manageable 173, the batting unit was barely stretched with the top three - Phil Salt, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal - wrapping up the game in haste. </p><p>The difference, though, is that the strip in Jaipur played without drama and RCB’s free-flowing top-order capitalised. There is potential to make use of the dew in Bengaluru too, but skipper Rajat Patidar has lost both the tosses here, giving the opposition the advantage. </p><p>The skipper, obviously, isn’t at fault for this, but that’s precisely the sort of luck that needs to go RCB’s way if they are to end this run at home. </p><p>That said, Chahal understands these dimensions, how this crowd is RCB’s 12th man, what to do when confronted by dew, how to switch things up when batters are in flow, what fields to set to improve his chances of success and so on when bowling second. </p><p>It didn’t seem like it a while, but now he seems to have found himself, and he didn’t need to reinvent himself to get there. He needed to experience just that one game where the ball comes out of his hands just right. That happened. Onto the next! </p>