Yuzvendra Chahal, an Indian leg-spinner who currently plays for Rajasthan Royals after a seven-year stint with the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has spoken out about a terrifying incident that occurred in 2013 while he was playing for Mumbai Indians in the sixth edition of the IPL.
Chahal revealed how a drunk MI player had him dangling outside of a balcony on the 15th floor of their hotel building, in a talk with new companions Ravichandran Ashwin and Karun Nair.
Ravichandran Ashwin, Karun Nair, and Yuzvendra Chahal were discussing some hitherto unheard anecdotes from their respective cricketing careers. When Chahal’s turn came, he recounted the incident. Chahal, however, declined to divulge the player’s identity in order to avoid causing a stir.
“I never told this story, from today 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. So there was a player who was very drunk, I won’t say his name,” Chahal said. “He was very drunk, he was looking at me for a long time and he just called me and he took me outside and he hung me on the balcony,” he added.
“Had I lost my grip, I was on the 15th floor… Suddenly many people who were there 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 felt I had a narrow escape. Had there been the slightest of memories, I would’ve fallen down,” he further recounted.
Chahal claimed that few people knew about the incident since he had kept it to himself until now. He admitted that things could have gone tragically wrong if his hands had slipped. However, a few more people entered the room and took charge of the situation.