Leg spinner Rahul Chahar took eight wickets for 51 runs on his debut for Surrey in the County Championship, thus breaking a record that has stood since 1859. His figures of 24-7-51-8 against Hampshire were the best figures by a debutant for Surrey, going past Willian Mudle’s mark of 7/61 set in 1859.
He took 10 wickets in the match overall for 118 runs and helped Surrey beat Hampshire by 20 runs to stay second in the County Division 1 table. Chahar had joined Surrey for this fixture, although he was registered to play for them at the start of the month in line with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) regulations. The figures in this match is also Chahar’s best in first class cricket, while the 8/51 is his best figures for an innings in the format.
Among Chahar’s victims in both innings was India’s Washington Sundar, who had turned up for Hampshire this season. The all-rounder had figures of 3.2-0-5-3 in first innings but returned wicketless in the second essay. With the bat, Washington made 56 and 11 for the Ben Brown-led side.
The Tamil Nadu cricketer could be seen in action during the upcoming home Test series against the West Indies. But Chahar’s India career has been halted after playing a solitary ODI and six T20Is between 2019 and 2021. His appearances had come around the time that he had played a key role in Mumbai Indians’ back-to-back Indian Premier League (IPL) titles in 2019 and 2020.
His call-up to Surrey came after they lost both of their current spinning options, Will Jacks and Cam Steel, to injury. Chahar is a regular for Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy and had taken 87 wickets in 24 first-class matches at 26.12 before this game for Surrey.
Hampshire, meanwhile, were left staring at relegation after the defeat to Surrey. They had been batting with Durham to stay in the division and the loss had resulted in the latter needing just a draw against Yorkshire. However, they ended up being blown away for 85 runs with George Hill and Dom Bess both taking four wickets each, and were thus relegated.
The postRahul Chahar breaks 166-year-old record with eight-wicket haul on Surrey debut | Cricket News appeared first on Indian Express
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