Dad Not Surprised At Deepak Chahar The Batsman's Success

Deepak Chahar, who hit an unbeaten 69 in the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Tuesday to bring India back from the dead and lead them to a three-wicket win in Colombo, has wowed fans occasionally in th

Probably, his best known knock over the past few years came during the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2018 when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni promoted him ahead of himself in a match against the Punjab franchise (then known as Kings XI Punjab). He made 39 off 19 balls before being dismissed on the 20th ball as CSK won that game by five wickets.

"Dhoni has given him a lot of confidence. He gave him the new ball too this season and asked him to bowl all his four overs in one spell," added Chahar senior.

Deepak picked eight wickets in seven IPL 2021 matches and while five those games went wicketless, he took four-wicket hauls in the other two - against Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. Coach Tyagi, who guided him in his formative years, said that he was always a batsman but never got responsibility to bat at higher level.

"He was batsman right from the start, but never got the responsibility. We worked on his batting as much as his bowling. His father always used to emphasise on batting due to its usefulness in IPL. When he was playing up the order, he always had the temperament," said Tyagi to IANS.

The temperament Tyagi talks of was evident on Tuesday. Out of his 69, only 34 runs came in boundaries while he ran between the wickets in energy-sapping conditions for the rest of his runs.

"I used to get angry to see that his all-round potential is not getting fulfilled. But I am glad that the world could see the batsman in him. My 15 years of labour is paying off," said Chahar senior.

The right-arm pace bowler took eight wickets for 10 on his first-class debut as he helped Rajasthan dismiss Hyderabad for 21 back in 2010 and then took 6/7 in a T20 International against Bangladesh.