Yuzvendra Chahal reached a career milestone during his county stint with Northamptonshire, surpassing 100 first-class wickets during a County Championship Division Two 2024 match against Derbyshire on Tuesday. 

The 34-year-old Chahal marked the occasion with a five-wicket haul, the third of his career in 38 matches, at the County Ground in Northampton.

Chahal, who plays for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, registered impressive figures of 5/45 to restrict Derbyshire to 165 in the first innings.

It was Chahal’s second fifer for Northamptonshire in his ongoing county stint. Last month, he picked up a five-wicket haul during the side’s win against Kent in a One Day Cup match at Canterbury. 

In the County Championship match, Chahal’s excellent spell with the ball meant that Northamptonshire had a handy lead of 54 runs. Saif Zaib (90 off 144 balls) and Justin Broad (45 off 64 balls) helped the Northants to a respectable total of 219 in their first essay, after the side was struggling at 89/6 earlier on Monday.

With Derbyshire placed comfortably at 126/4, Chahal came in for his second spell. Chahal provided the crucial breakthrough as he ended the 51-run fifth-wicket partnership to dismiss Aneurin Donald, who was caught by James Sales.

Three overs later, Chahal struck a double blow to bring Northamptonshire back into the reckoning. The leg-spinner first castled Wayne Masen (47 off 61 balls) who was looking dangerous before sending back Zak Chappell in the same over, for his 100th first-class wicket.

Chahal produced another double-wicket over to orchestrate Derbyshire’s collapse as they slipped from 150/4 to 165 all out. Apart from Chahal, off-spinner Rob Keogh also chipped in with three wickets.