Danish Kaneria, a former Pakistan spinner has praised tailender pacer Deepak Chahar for his brilliant innings in the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. Deepak Chahar’s unbeaten 69 saw India recover from 193 for 7 to chase down 276 in Colombo.
Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (19 not out) featured in an unbeaten 84-run stand for the eighth wicket to rescue India after a batting collapse.
Danish Kaneria: Pakistan’s Batsmen Should Learn From Deepak Chahar
On his YouTube channel, former spinner Danish Kaneria lauded Deepak Chahar’s knock and urged Pakistan’s batsmen to learn from him.
“Full credit to Deepak Chahar. Pakistan’s batsmen should learn from him. Deepak Chahar took the game till the very end. He stood at the wicket, rotated the strike smartly and picked up a the odd boundary here and there. Chahar had that key partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the end. Although Kumar only scored 19, it was as good as a 50 on the day,” Danish Kaneria said.
Danish Kaneria pointed out that Deepak Chahar took inspiration from former Indian skipper MS Dhoni’s philosophy of taking the game till the end. Incidentally, MS Dhoni is Deepak Chahar’s captain at Chennai Super Kings.
The former Pakistan cricketer added: “Thanks to Chahar and Kumar, India won the series and now we could see some changes in the final ODI. But today (Tuesday) was Chahar’s day. He first claimed two wickets and then batted very sensibly. He did not play any unnecessary shots and applied MS Dhoni’s philosophy of taking the game till the end if wickets fall. It was an outstanding performance by India.”
CSK failed to make it to the playoffs for the first time in the history of the tournament in IPL 2020. Chennai Super Kings though performed brilliantly in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. The MS Dhoni-led side finished second on the points table with 5 wins from 7 seven games before the tournament came to an abrupt halt.
Following India’s impressive win, Bhuvneshwar Kumar revealed that it was the team management’s decision to send Deepak Chahar to bat ahead of him in the second ODI. The vice-captain of the side explained that coach Rahul Dravid was aware of pacer Deepak Chahar’s skills with the willow having seen him bat on India ‘A’ tours.
After having a forgettable outing in the first ODI – where he conceded 63 runs in 9 overs – Bhuvneshwar Kumar improved his figures to 3/54 in the second ODI. Deepak Chahar apart from his 69* picked a couple of wickets.
At a post-match press conference, Kumar explained: “Look, he’s played with our coach Rahul Dravid before for India ‘A’ and some other series’ and he scored there as well. So, he (Dravid) knew he (Chahar) could bat and he can hit a few balls. So that was his call and the way he batted proved him right. We all know he can bat, he has done it many times. It wasn’t a tough call but it’s just good to see the way he scored runs.”