"The great Shane Warne used to do that" - Aakash Chopra lauds Yuzvendra Chahal's spell in PBKS' IPL 2025 win vs KKR

Former India player Aakash Chopra has lauded Yuzvendra Chahal for bowling a match-winning spell in the Punjab Kings' (PBKS) IPL 2025 clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He noted that the leg-spinner got the ball to drift and turn, much like the great Shane Warne used to do.

PBKS set KKR a seemingly below-par 112-run target in Match 31 of IPL 2025 in Mullanpur on Tuesday, April 15. Chahal then registered figures of 4/28 in four overs as the home team bundled the visitors out for 95 to register a 16-run win.

Reflecting on KKR's chase in a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener praised Chahal for deceiving the batters with his guile.

"Yuzi Chahal bowled well because there were revolutions on the ball, and he bowled slightly slow. The ball was drifting in the air. It was going away from the left-handers and turning after pitching. The off-spinner's ball goes away from the right-handers and then pitches and comes in. That's the ideal off-spin dismissal," Chopra said (6:05).

"For a leg-spinner, the ball should go towards the leg side for the right-handers and outside the off-stump for the left-handers, and then pitch and turn. The great Shane Warne used to do that, and Chahal bowled like that and picked up wickets," he added.

Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Ajinkya Rahane (17 off 17) lbw to break the 55-run third-wicket partnership between the KKR skipper and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (37 off 28). He then got rid of Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh (2 off 9) and Ramandeep Singh (0 off 1) to complete his four-wicket haul.

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"The pitch was very, very good to bat" - Aakash Chopra on KKR's batting in IPL 2025 loss vs PBKS

Angkrish Raghuvanshi was the only KKR batter to score more than 20 runs in their IPL 2025 clash against PBKS. [P/C: Getty]

Reflecting on KKR's batting, Aakash Chopra noted that Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi showed the pitch didn't hold any demons.

"Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock got out. When Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi were playing, Raghuvanshi played a pick-up shot that went for a 70-meter six, Rahane chipped the ball for a straight six, and then Raghuvanshi hit a four towards cover. The pitch was very, very good to bat," he said in the same video.

The cricketer-turned-commentator picked Rahane's dismissal as the turning point of the game, highlighting that KKR lost a flurry of wickets after their captain opted not to review the on-field umpire's wrong lbw decision.

"The ball was coming nicely onto the bat and going nicely from the bat as well, or else such good shots wouldn't have been hit. Then came spin and a moment which was the turning point of the match. A leg-before decision was given, Rahane didn't review that, and the ball had hit him slightly outside the off-stump," Chopra observed.

"Stroke of luck. You can call it poor umpiring as well. Rahane is too sweet. He felt what would happen if they lost a review. That became the turning point. Angkrish Raghuvanshi got out to Yuzi's ball. Rinku Singh also got out, and Venkatesh Iyer fell prey to Glenn Maxwell. Ramaneep Singh came and got out," he added.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra questioned what the lengthy KKR batting lineup was doing. He pointed out that virtually every single batter got out while trying to play square of the wicket against the spinners, highlighting that such shots are played only when the ball is turning a lot, which wasn't the case in Tuesday's game.