Indian pacer Deepak Chahar seemed to have found his mojo back in the IPL 2021 season for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The 28-year-old picked 8 wickets in seven games at an acceptable economy rate of 8.04 and was the strike bowler for MS Dhoni’s men. Intriguingly, his eight wickets came in just two games, where he picked up four-wicket hauls each against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). CSK once again looked like the side that they have always been, dominant and strong.
Chahar, who has honed his skills as a bowler under Dhoni’s captaincy, backed his captain saying it’s not easy to consistently do well as a finisher and fans might get to see the best of the Ranchi superstar in the remaining matches of the tournament.
“A batsman cannot bat the same way for 15-20 years. If any batsman hasn’t played regular cricket before, it is never easy to just come to a competition of the level of IPL and start performing, it takes time. He has always played the finisher’s rule, which is even tougher when you haven’t played regular cricket. Even in the 2018 and 2019 IPL seasons, Dhoni bhai started a bit slowly by his standards, but his strokeplay became fluent as the season progressed. So you might get to see the best of MS Dhoni in the second half of the season,” Chahar told Sportskeeda in an interview.
In IPL 2020, Chahar was one of the most successful bowlers for CSK as he kept things tight in the powerplay overs by bowling three overs in a row. With any amount of swing on offer, Chahar becomes a really dangerous bowler on any surface.
Chahar lauded Dhoni for the amount of trust he has shown in him during his 4-year stay with the franchise and also highlighted Dhoni’s ability to utilise the players to the best of their abilities.
“This has been my fourth year at CSK and Dhoni bhai has shown his trust in me as his strike bowler. This trust is so important because he has not just inspired me but also many others. His best quality as a captain is about how to utilize a player on a particular day for a particular situation. I’ve bowled three overs in the powerplay in pretty much every game for CSK and have learned a lot through him,” Chahar added.
