He spent his childhood in Moradabad, and learnt early essentials of cricket at Sonakpur Stadium under the guidance of his first coach Mr KK Gautam.

Chawla first played for India U-19 against the England U-19 team in 2004–05, claiming 13 wickets from two Under-19 Tests at a bowling average of just above 12.

He returned to test after two years in April 2008 against South Africa, where he took 2/66 (wickets of opener Neil McKenzie and AB de Villiers), but bowled only four wicketless overs in the second innings.

In 2009, Chawla signed for Sussex County Cricket Club for a month, as cover for Yasir Arafat who was with Pakistan.

He returned to play his third Test, after 4 years, against England at Nagpur in December 2012, where the hosts had fielded four spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, debutant Ravindra Jadeja and Chawla.

Chawla returned to English county cricket in August 2013 when he joined Somerset as their overseas player for the last five weeks of the season.

On 12 February 2014, Chawla was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 425 lac in IPL 7 auction.

[5] In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League.