Yuzvendra Chahal joins Northamptonshire for One Day Cup, County Championship

Star India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has joined Northamptonshire for the remainder of the 2024 season. The 34-year-old will be playing the team’s final One Day Cup match against Kent and the remaining five County Championship fixtures. Young India opener Prithvi Shaw is currently part of Northamptonshire as well and has hit three half-centuries in the last five games.

Notably, Chahal previously expressed his desire to play Test cricket for India but he was never given an opportunity. The Haryana-born cricketer has featured in 35 first-class games in his career and picked up 96 wickets at an average of 34.51 and is currently not in the scheme of things as far as red-ball cricket is concerned. He is not going to feature in the Duleep Trophy and for the same reason, the spinner has decided to play County cricket.

Northamptonshire head coach John Sadler welcomed Chahal into the squad and stated that he will add extra variety and depth to the bowling attack. He added that Chahal’s record speaks for itself and that his wealth of experience will help the team massively.

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“Yuzvendra is another high-profile overseas player who brings with him a wealth of experience and some incredible skills. His record speaks for itself and his wicket-taking ability will add strength to our attack,” Sadler said.

The team is currently placed eighth on the One Day Cup points table. They had a terrific start in the game against Kent in Canterbury and would be hoping to get the job done but that won’t change their fortune on the points table. For Chahal, it's a good practice match as he would be gunning to do well and remain in the scheme of things for the upcoming Champions Trophy.

When it comes to the County Championship, Northamptonshire is seventh in an eight-team group. Chahal can view these five matches to be an opportunity to prove his worth in red-ball cricket in foreign conditions and challenge for a spot in India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.