The India leg-spinner Piyush Chawla has finally decided to make a move and end his 12 years-long association with the Uttar Pradesh Cricket to play for the defending champions Gujarat in the upcoming first class season. He thought that this is the right time to make a move keeping in mind his cricketing career.
Chawla cited that the spinners don”t get much help from the surfaces in UP as the main reason behind his move with BCCI deciding to revert the home and away format for this Ranji season. In an interview with Sportstar he admitted, “When I play in Uttar Pradesh, the wickets are either seaming tracks or flat ones. That”s how the weather is. So, it was time to make a move to a state where I can bowl much better and get wickets.”
Chawla’s inclusion will certainly strengthen the bowling attack of Gujarat who already has Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and RP Singh in their ranks. RP Singh also made a similar move from UP two years back. While talking about the move Chawla recalled that he told Parthiv Patel the Gujarat skipper to keep his options open for him a couple of years back.
“Last year, I only played a couple of matches for UP as I was injured. I couldn”t play much and only participated in one-dayers and T20s because, in the second game of the Ranji Trophy itself, I was injured. So, this year I was mulling a change. I spoke to Parthiv and told him about my plans. He and the officials at the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) were happy with the move. I am thankful to them that they welcomed me,” he concluded.
The 28-year-old spinner has represented Uttar Pradesh in 80 first class matches taking 226 wickets over a span of 12 years. He made his Test debut way back in 2006 but has managed to play only 3 tests taking 7 wickets.
