Deepak Chahar

Various Indians players have been made and broken by Greg Chappell, Deepak Chahar could have been one of them. Chahar might not be the one from the Chappell tenure but when the latter was the Director of Rajasthan Cricket, he snubbed a 15-year-old Chahar, in 2008, and said that the youngster doesn’t have it to make it big on the international stage. A decade later, the seamer registered the world record for the best figures in a T20 International, for his 6/7 against Bangladesh.

Chahar was trained by his father/coach who took early retirement from Air Force to dedicate himself to coach Chahar and his younger brother, Rahul. In 2010, the seamer made his first-class debut to register a sensational figure of 8 for 10, against Hyderabad. Chahar showcased the ability to swing the new ball both ways, just like Praveen Kumar and Bhubneshwar Kumar. And just like the swing duo, Chahar shared a truckload with injuries. 

The Rajasthan-based pacer suffered from a quiet number of injuries, until 2016 when his father worked on his fitness regime to make a fitter bowler. From 2010 to 2016, Chahar played 35 FC games to bag 100 odd wickets, which led to his IPL selection by Rajasthan Royals. In 2016, he got picked by the temporary franchise Rising Pune Supergiants whom he represented for two seasons. But it wasn’t until the 2018 IPL where Chahar showed his best self under MS Dhoni’s mentorship. 

Chahar missed the trick in the 2016 and 2017 domestic as well as IPL season, but it was the Syed Mushtaq Ali of 2018 that made him stake a claim at the IPL auctions where he got snapped up by the Chennai Super Kings. He took 10 wickets in the first season for CSK where his tight lines and length made him a Dhoni favourite. The next season saw the swing-master taking 22 wickets and finished third in the purple cap race. 

Hard work in domestic circles and IPL’s success led Chahar way into the Indian cricket team. He made his T20I debut on the tour of England in the English summers of 2018, later that year, he made his ODI debut in the Asia Cup. His maiden season at the international stage wasn’t much of a reward, but he came back with some added variations in his arsenal. Since 2019, the pacer has been a much-improved version of himself and has been in the team’s scheme of things for the shortest format. 

While some consider him skillful others frown upon his knack of giving away boundaries. However, Chahar has proven that he is a sort of a bowler who makes the new ball talk and also can be a miser in the death overs. 

(As of June 2021)