How Yuzvendra Chahal conjured a Warne-like dreamy ball to dismiss Rinku Singh

It was a ball that Shane Warne would have been proud of: Yuzvendra Chahal’s wondrous delivery that sucked out Rinku Singh on Tuesday night. It had all the dreamy elements that a legspinner could wish for: the dazzling drift, the gobsmacking suspension-in-the-air, the vicious drop, and then the killer legbreak turn to finish off.
Each one of those elements escalated the threat Rinku was up against. And he had no chance when they combined so dreamily. For him it was a ball from hell, that no amount of borrowed bats from his heroes across dressing rooms can help. It was just too good.
Especially with Rinku, like most modern-day batsmen, loathe to use feet and tried reaching, lunging, stretching to his ass.
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Rinku Singh of Kolkata Knight Riders stumped out on a delivery from Punjab Kings’ Yuzvendra Chahal in an IPL 2025 game. (Photo: Sportzpics for IPL)
It’s worth a deep-dive. The drift had the ball swaying from outside leg to outside off. At this point Rinku was getting forward, but seems to have realised the drift and tries to hold his balance.
WATCH: Chahal hoodwinks Rinku Singh

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Then came the next attack. The hang-in-the-air effect as the ball curved slowly to the other side of Rinku. In trying to hold balance even as he was forced to wait, he lands his front foot on its heel – and not on toes as would have been in the ideal scenario.
Chahal’s trickery wasn’t done yet. The last phase is a thing of beauty. Everything seems to hurry on from this point – after that hang in air. First came the rapid dip.
To his credit, Rinku who had been sucked out of crease the drift and hang makes a quick judgement call: that this ball is going to continue drifting away. Or so it seems. Not a make as that ball’s trajectory seemed to validate that belief about its destination. Story continues below this ad
Rinku Singh of Kolkata Knight Riders walks back after being stumped out on a delivery from Punjab Kings’ Yuzvendra Chahal in an IPL 2025 game. (Photo: Sportzpics for IPL)
And so Rinku dragged his bat down, well away from the body to hopefully cover the line of the angler. But Chahal had ripped it as legbreak – not a slider or googly. And it broke back in sharply, threaded the big bat-and-pad gap and left Rinku stranded, embarrassed and in a tangle. He was in such an awkward position that when he tried to get his bat back to the safety of the crease, it got entangled with his back leg and down he sunk to the ground with the led lights of the stumps lighting up his end.
The thin frame of Chahal shook and heaved in celebratory roar that was thoroughly deserved.