Piyush Chawla was all of 17 when he made his Test debut for India. He was a bubbly teenager alright, but the one with a bag full of wickets in domestic cricket, including that of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Chawla represented India at the U19 level when he was only 15 but he caused a stir in the Indian domestic circuit by bamboozling Tendulkar with a wrong'un during a Challenger Trophy final in 2005. He also dismissed MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh in the same match but ended up on the losing side.

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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