In a sensational revelation which suggests bullying is pretty much prevalent in IPL teams’ dressing rooms, India’s limited overs leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has talked about a shocking incident during the 2013 IPL, in which a drunk Mumbai Indians teammate grabbed hold of Chahal at a post-match party and humg him from a 15th floor balcony. The wiry Chahal, who has taken seven wickets for his new team, the Rajasthan Royals in the current edition of the IPL, has played for MI and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past.
Talking to Ravichandran Ashwin and Karun Nair on comebacks in a video that was shared by the Rajasthan Royals on their official Twitter handle, Chahal revealed what he suffered nine years back. Narrating the incident, Chahal said, “I never told this story. . . now everyone will know. I never shared this. This dates back to 2013 when I was with Mumbai Indians. We had a match in Bangalore. There was a get-together after that. There was a player who was very drunk, I won’t take his name. He was very drunk, he was looking at me for a long time. . (suddenly) he just called me, took me outside and he dangled me from the balcony (sic).”
The 31-year-old confirmed that not many know of this incident as he kept it to himself at that time. Chahal said had he lost his grip on his tormentor’s neck, things could’ve taken an ugly turn. Fortunately, a few people rushed in to save Chahal. “My hands were around him, like this (behind the neck). Had I lost my grip. . . I was on the 15th floor. Suddenly many people came and handled the situation. I kind of fainted, they gave me water. Then I realized how responsible we need to be when we go anywhere. So this was one incident where I had a narrow escape. Had there been the slightest of mistakes, I would’ve fallen down. ”
It is likely that some players in the MI team know who the bully is. It remains to be seen if BCCI, which has been tight-lipped on the issue so far, takes a serious note of Chahal’s revelation and orders a probe through its IPL Governing Council.
