Yuzvendra Singh Chahal is an Indian cricketer. He is right-arm leg spinner and plays for the Rajasthan Royals franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He has represented India in One Day Internationals (ODIs) as well as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). He became the first Indian in history to claim a 6-wicket haul in T20Is and is also the first player to earn a Man of the Match award in an international game after coming on as a concussion substitute.

Chahal is married to Youtuber, dance choreographer, and dentist- Dhanashree Verma. The couple tied the knot on December 22, 2020, in Gurugram. Recent reports suggest that the couple has entered a rocky phase in their relationship; Chahal posted a cryptic message on social media that said ‘New life loading’, while Verma deleted Chahal’s surname from her Instagram the following day. It remains to be seen whether the couple can work out their differences or not.

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Chahal was born on July 23, 1990, in Jind, Haryana. Growing up, he was an astute chess player. In fact, he has represented India internationally in chess as well — participating in the World Youth Chess Championship. He had to eventually give up the sport due to a lack of sponsorship solutions. 

Chahal made his first steps in domestic cricket when he was signed by the Mumbai Indians in 2011 to play in the IPL. He appeared in just a single IPL game across 3 seasons but featured in all the matches in Mumbai’s path to victory in the 2011 Champions League T20 – taking 2 for 9 in the final against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). In 2014, he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for his base price of ₹10 lakh and stayed with the team until February 2022 when he was signed by Rajasthan Royals in the 2022 Mega auction.

Internationally, Chahal made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe on June 11, 2016, with Richmond Mutumbami his first ever international scalp. In his second international, Chahal earned his first-ever Man of the Match award after taking 3 wickets for just 26 runs. 

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His T20 debut followed soon after on June 18, 2016, once again against Zimbabwe and he soon demonstrated his knack for this shortest format of the game when he became the first Indian to take a 5-wicket haul in T20Is taking 6/25 against England on February 1, 2017. That year, he ended with the most wickets in T20Is in the world taking 23 in the calendar year. 

He has played 64 ODIs for India taking 111 wickets in the process and boasting of a bowling average of 26.77 with his best bowling figures being a 6/42. He has been equally impressive in T20Is having taken 72 wickets in his 54 matches for the country at an average of 25.34.

Also read: Dhanashree drops Chahal from surname after Yuzi’s ‘new life loading’ post

Chahal was in the news when he revealed in 2022 that during his time at Mumbai Indians when he was a young player with a fledgling career, a drunk teammate had dangled him from the 15th floor of a building, and he had also been tied up in a room by Andrew Symonds and James Franklin in a separate incident earlier. His revelations opened up a vigorous debate about player welfare with strict action being demanded over the aggressors.