The Hindu : Sport : Piyush Chawla, an attacking leg-spinner

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Piyush Chawla, an attacking leg-spinner

S. Dinakar

These are not the easiest of days for the bowler
He is delighted with the umpires’ referral system

Chennai: Piyush Chawla listens to the sweet sound of the rain and says, “I want to get drenched out there. And then I want to bowl.”

The sound of the ball spinning and hissing in the air is music for his ears as well.

Piyush enjoys his cricket and bowling. His spirit blends with leg-spin, a daring art.

The leggie’s smile, charming and spontaneous, is a rarity in the modern, hard-nosed, professional era.

He quickly sheds light on the other side of his persona. “I am aggressive on the field, a leg-spinner has to be attacking in his mind-set.”

The cricketer adds, “I like it when they use their feet. Then, I know I have a chance.”

Piyush is in Chennai to take part in the TNCA first division league, turning out for Jolly Rovers; he is employed with Chemplast.

Gutsy player

This is yet another stop in the journey of this gutsy player from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.

These, however, are not the easiest of days for Piyush. He is not part of the Indian Test squad in Sri Lanka, misses the ambience of international cricket.

He also realises that age is on his side. “I can wait. I know my time would come,” Piyush told The Hindu here on Monday.

The spinner is using the international break to work on his bowling. He is evolving.

Quicker through the air in his early days, he tended to rely more on his wrong ‘un than the leg-spinner. This made Piyush a touch predictable.

Now he flights the ball more, gets his leg-spinner to turn more. “Previously, I was using a lot of my fingers. Now, I am using my wrist in a bigger manner and using more of my body in my action.” Consequently, he rips the ball harder.

He is aware of the advantages of being short-statured; he can achieve the dip, the loop, in flight.

A better leg-break has made his wrong ‘un more potent. “I think, I now have the variations. I have the leg-spinner, the wrong ‘un, the flipper and the top-spinner.”

Piyush is also working on the art of deception. “There are times when the batsmen can read you from the seam. So I do bowl a lot with the cross seam,” he said.

Sri Lankan sensation Ajantha Mendis’s unique methods have captured his attention. “He’s very natural in the way he bowls, in his variations. It’s not easy to read him. I’ve heard from some cricketers that his middle finger is very strong. He also has the advantage of bowling with Muralitharan, who is at a different level altogether.”

Master bowler

Piyush marvels at how Muralitharan is using and creating the angles from round the wicket, with the off-spinner, the straighter one and the doosra. The cricketer from Uttar Pradesh is learning the virtues of using the crease and varying his pace.

Interestingly his most memorable strike so far — Sachin Tendulkar in the Challenger Series at Mohali — was secured with a huge googly from round the wicket.

In the international arena, Piyush relished nailing Kevin Pietersen with a top-spinner during the ODI series in England last year.

He disagrees with the theory that too much exposure to the shorter formats of the game can hurt his bowling in Test cricket. “I look for wickets in any form of the game,” is his answer.

Keen follower

A roaring success in the IPL for Kings XI Punjab, he remembers a conversation with the legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne.

“He told me to study the batsman from the time he walked to the ground. Gather small things about his body language and technique even when he is facing the other bowlers, including the pacemen.”

The youthful leggie has also imbibed much from Anil Kumble’s work ethics and intensity on the field.

In a game loaded in favour of batsmen, he is delighted with the umpires’ referral system.

The conversation over, he prepares to venture out – in the rain.

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