---
type: story
title: "Yuzvendra Chahal's 221 Wickets: What the Season-by-Season Journey Shows"
description: >
  Yuzvendra Chahal was the first bowler to take 200 wickets in the IPL.
  He got there in his 153rd IPL match, on 22 April 2024. The season-by-season
  data behind that milestone is not a straight line — it's a curve that tells
  you something about how franchise cricket values leg-spin.
tags:
  - IPL
  - bowling
  - player
  - records
  - history
status: active
last_verified: 2026-06-25
timestamp: 2026-06-25
license: CC-BY-4.0
source_system: CricketStudio
source_boundary: public_open_data
canonical_page: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/chahal-200-wickets-journey/
resource: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/chahal-200-wickets-journey/
entity_id: cricketstudio:story:chahal-200-wickets-journey
dataset_version: 2026-06-11
provenance:
  source: >
    Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 for all pre-2026 career figures (172 matches, 221 wickets).
    CricketStudio IPL 2026 snapshot (version 2026-06-11) for IPL 2026 season (12 matches, 12 wickets).
    200th wicket milestone date (22 April 2024, 153rd IPL match) from Cricsheet CC BY 3.0.
  confidence: high
  notes: >
    Season-by-season table is derived from Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 IPL match data.
    Total of 221 pre-2026 wickets + 12 in IPL 2026 = 233 total IPL wickets at snapshot.
    For current live wicket count, see canonical CricketStudio page.
related:
  - ../scorebook/players/yuzvendra-chahal.md
  - ../dossier/ipl-all-time-wicket-taker.md
  - ../metrics/bowling-economy.md
  - ../dossier/purple-cap-winners-history.md
---

# Yuzvendra Chahal's 221 Wickets: What the Season-by-Season Journey Shows

## The Question Nobody Asked

When the first bowler in IPL history reached 200 wickets, which kind of career does the data say he had?

## What the Data Says

**The milestone:**

On **22 April 2024** — his **153rd IPL match** — [Yuzvendra Chahal](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/yuzvendra-chahal) became the first bowler in IPL history to take 200 wickets.

*(Source: Cricsheet CC BY 3.0)*

**Season-by-season career (Cricsheet CC BY 3.0, pre-2026):**

| Season | Team | Matches | Wickets | Economy |
|--------|------|---------|---------|---------|
| 2013 | MI | 1 | 0 | 8.50 |
| 2014 | RCB | 14 | 12 | 7.02 |
| 2015 | RCB | 14 | 23 | 8.86 |
| 2016 | RCB | 13 | 21 | 8.16 |
| 2017 | RCB | 13 | 14 | 7.66 |
| 2018 | RCB | 14 | 12 | 7.26 |
| 2019 | RCB | 14 | 18 | 7.82 |
| 2020/21 | RCB | 15 | 21 | 7.08 |
| 2021 | RCB | 15 | 18 | 7.06 |
| 2022 | RR | 17 | 27 | 7.75 |
| 2023 | RR | 14 | 21 | 8.18 |
| 2024 | RR | 15 | 18 | 9.41 |
| 2025 | PBKS | 13 | 16 | 9.56 |
| **Total (pre-2026)** | | **172** | **221** | **7.96** |

**IPL 2026** (Punjab Kings): 12 matches, 12 wickets, 9.39 economy
*(CricketStudio snapshot, 2026-06-11)*

**Approximate career IPL total:** ~233 wickets

## The Wow

Two things stand out in the season table that are not obvious from the headline number.

**First: the peak year was 2022, not 2015.**

[Chahal](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/yuzvendra-chahal)'s single-season best was **27 wickets** for Rajasthan Royals in 2022 — his first season away from RCB after nine years. After nearly a decade with one franchise, he arrived at a new team and produced his career-best season. He was 32.

**Second: the economy drift from 2022 onwards.**

| Period | Economy |
|--------|---------|
| 2014–2021 (8 seasons) | 7.02–8.86 |
| 2022 | 7.75 |
| 2023–2025 (3 seasons) | 8.18–9.56 |
| 2026 | 9.39 |

The economy has risen in the post-Impact Player era. This is not unique to [Chahal](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/yuzvendra-chahal) — the entire IPL bowling environment changed after 2023. But for a leg-spinner whose economy was the foundation of his value, the drift is visible in the numbers.

221 wickets by May 2026 means [Chahal](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/yuzvendra-chahal) has been consistently taking wickets across 13 seasons. He is not a single-peak bowler. He is an endurance study.

## What It Doesn't Say

The economy drift post-2023 is a data observation, not a verdict on Chahal's quality. The run environment changed structurally with the Impact Player Rule — every bowler's economy rose. Contextualising his 9.39 in IPL 2026 against the league-average economy that season is necessary before any claim about form decline.

The 200-wicket milestone (153rd match) is the first time any bowler reached that mark in IPL history. This milestone does not make him the greatest IPL bowler of all time — that comparison requires a metric, a sample floor, and era context. It is a volume and longevity record.

Wicket total is not the same as wickets-per-ball or economy — different bowlers have different values to their team. For complete bowling performance context, see the phase splits at CricketStudio's canonical page.

## Related Concepts

- [Yuzvendra Chahal](../scorebook/players/yuzvendra-chahal.md)
- [IPL All-Time Wicket Taker](../dossier/ipl-all-time-wicket-taker.md)
- [Purple Cap Winners History](../dossier/purple-cap-winners-history.md)
- [Bowling Economy — metric](../metrics/bowling-economy.md)
