''Support from Sachin and Sehwag: India's World Cup hero receives backing after KP terror threat''

Piyush Chawla burst onto the Test cricket scene at the tender age of 17, showcasing his skills as a teenage prodigy. Despite his youthful exuberance, Chawla had already established himself as a formidable wicket-taker in domestic cricket, even boasting the prized scalp of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Impressively, Chawla had already donned the national colors at the U19 level by the age of 15. However, it was his remarkable performance in the Challenger Trophy final in 2005 that truly turned heads in the Indian domestic circuit. Chawla left spectators in awe by dismissing Tendulkar with a deceptive wrong'un, a feat that not many seasoned bowlers could claim. Further demonstrating his talent, Chawla also claimed the wickets of MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh in the same match. Despite his impressive individual performance, Chawla found himself on the losing side in that particular contest. Nevertheless, his skills and potential were unmistakable, laying down a marker for a promising career ahead.

Chawla backed his good show in the Challengers Trophy with an even better outing for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy. The leg-spinner took 35 wickets and scored 224 runs to help UP win their first Ranji Trophy. His stellar all-round show was enough to earn him an India call-up for the home series against England in February-March 2006.

He was picked for the second Test match in Mohali. Another young bowler burst onto the scene in the same Test along with Chawla - right-arm pacer Munaf Patel. His raw pace caught the attention of one and all. Munaf dismissed Kevin Pietersen, England captain Andrew Flintoff, and Liam Plunkett in the first innings but things were different for Chawla.

The 17-year-old went wicketless in the first innings was the most expensive among all Indian bowlers, going for 45 runs in the 9 overs that he bowled. And one of the major reasons behind that was Kevin Pietersen. The swashbuckling right-hander unsettled Chawla with his powerful slog sweeps right from the onset and the teenager didn't have any answers.

Chawla bowled 13 balls to Pietersen and three of them were hit for boundaries - two slog sweeps (one of them was a six) and a lofted shot over long-off. Pietersen was so good with his authoritative display against Chawla that it messed up the young leggie's lines and lengths.

"The way everyone backed me. It's very important for a youngster who has just walked into the side to get support from the seniors. In my first Test match, Pietersen hit me to different parts of the ground. And gave a statement after that: 'Whether it is Shane Warne or a 17-year-old kid, I bat this way'. That experience was like 'welcome to international cricket'.

"I almost had a five-wicket haul in every second match in domestic cricket. It appeared like things were very easy, but when I played my first Test, I realised why international cricket is so difficult," the 35-year-old said in the ‘2 Sloggers’ podcast.

Chawla recalls support from seniors

Chawla then went on to add how Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and the other seniors supported him. “Sachin paaji came. Viru bhai talked to me in his own way. Then Yuvi paaji and Mahi bhai. I can't say they were friends because they were very seniors,” he added.

Chawla represented India in three Tests, 25 ODIs and 7 T20Is but he is a two-time World Champion. He was a member of India's T20 World Cup-winning team in 2007 and then the ODI World Cup-winning side in 2011.

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