Yuzvendra Chahal became the first player to pick up 200 wickets in the Indian Premier League.

The Rajasthan Royals leg spinner reached the milestone during the IPL 2024 match against Mumbai Indians at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday. Chahal had Mohammad Nabi caught and bowled in his first over of the night to etch his name into the history books.

Chahal outfoxed Nabi with his change of pace, forcing the Afghan batter to mistime his shot and play the ball straight to him. Chahal finished with figures of 1/48 as the Royals won the game by nine wickets with eight balls to spare.

The 33-year-old Chahal made his IPL debut in 2013 and has played a total of 153 matches in the tournament till date. His wickets have come at an average of 21.60 and a strike rate of 16.76, which is the best among the top seven wicket-takers in the competition.

With 200 wickets, Chahal is also the leading wicket-taker in the IPL. He went past West Indian Dwayne Bravo in IPL 2023 to go on top of the all-time wicket taker’s chart in the competition. Another Royals’ spinner Ravichandran Ashwin with 172 scalps is currently seventh in the list.

Chahal was signed by the Royals during the mega auction before the IPL 2022. He delivered instantly with 27 wickets from 17 matches that season and guided the Royals to their first final since the inaugural edition in 2008.

He also finished as the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2022 and won his first Purple Cap, which is awarded to the bowler with the most wickets in an edition of IPL.

Continuing his purple patch with the Royals, he ended IPL 2023 with 21 wickets from 14 matches and finished fifth in the highest wicket taker’s list for the season. Chahal has been a consistent performer in the last four years of IPL, picking up 20-plus wickets in three of these.

Chahal is poised to enjoy yet another fruitful season and has raced to 13 wickets off just eight matches in IPL 2024 already. The veteran leg spinner has picked up at least one wicket in each of his appearances for the Royals this year.

In just his third season with the Rajasthan Royals, Chahal has already picked up 61 wickets and is only five scalps away from becoming their top wicket-taker in the IPL. Siddharth Trivedi, with 65 wickets in 76 matches, currently tops the list.