Watch: Yuzvendra Chahal welcomes Quinton de Kock to the crease with a few words
Quinton de Kock was left puzzled after Yuzvendra Chahal's pre-innings chirping and rare attempt at sledging.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) wristspinner Yuzvendra Chahal tried to get under the skins of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) opening batter Quinton de Kock in an IPL 2022 game with a few words followed by a stare.
The usually calm and funny avatar of Chahal was seen trying his hands at the verbal volleys against De Kock, who tried his best to avoid the veteran spinner and get on with his job.
Chahal even stood near De Kock while the batter went about marking his guard. Without uttering a word, the RR stalwart let the LSG left-hander know of his presence while the opponent tried to focus on his playing duties.
It was the rarest of rare attempts at sledging from Yuzvendra Chahal, who is usually all fun and games on the field when not operating at the bowling mark.
Yuzvendra Chahal tries verbal volleys to get under De Kock's skin
The incident happened just prior to the beginning of LSG's run-chase. With his team in the quest to overhaul RR's 178/6, De Kock was obviously hoping to get in and play a substantial knock.
But to nullify his attempt right at the start of the chase, Yuzvendra Chahal tried his hands at sledging, with the intention to get under his skin and get the batter to err in his decision-making.
As he walked up the playing arena, De Kock was seen grinning after Chahal's initial attempt at staring at him and herling a few words against the South African left-hander. At this point, the experienced cricketer gauged the bowler's intentions and tried to get on with his job.
But the persistent Chahal went all the way to the batting end while De Kock was seen trying to mark his guard, letting the batter know of his presence even as he made his best effort to avoid him.
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Only when De Kock refused to really budge for his act did Yuzvendra Chahal backtracked from his position and let the game proceed normally.
Chahal has had a fantastic season with the ball in hand, taking 23 wickets from 12 innings at an average of 15.73 while going for a respectable 7.54 runs an over.