Deepak Chahar Recalls MS Dhoni On The Day Of His Retirement Suggested Him To “Focus More On His Batting”

Feb 22, 2022 at 6:28 PM

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Deepak Chahar Recalls MS Dhoni On The Day Of His Retirement Suggested Him To “Focus More On His Batting”

Deepak Chahar, in fact was CSK’s costliest buy at the auction and the second most expensive overall behind his India teammate and Mumbai Indians’ Ishan Kishan. Chennai Super Kings assembled a squad at IPL 2022 auctios with more or less the same composition as last year.

The four-time IPL champions, who decided to persist with MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali as their four retained players, spent wisely at the two-day auction event in Bengaluru and put together a squad that has resembled CSK in the past. With most of experienced campaigners, CSK brought back some its most genuine match-winners.

The likes of Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu and Deepak Chahar for 2 crore, 4.4 crore, 6.75 crore and 14 crore respectively. Deepak Chahar has been brilliant not only with the ball but even with the bat, scoring two vital half-centuries for India – first against Sri Lanka last year and most recently in South Africa.

Chennai Super Kings (Image Credit: Twitter)
Chennai Super Kings (Image Credit: Twitter)

Deepak Chahar Said MS Dhoni Asked Him To Focus More On His Batting

While for many, Deepak Chahar’s shining with the bat is new, the 29-year-old reveals that ever since he took up cricket, he has always concentrated on batting. However, what really triggered Deepak Chahar’s batting turnaround was a piece of advice from the legendary MS Dhoni, on the evening the CSK captain announced his retirement from international cricket.

“One day Mahi bhai said to me… ‘you have done a good job with the bowling but haven’t justified your batting. I think you should do that’. He told me the day he announced his retirement. We were sitting in the evening and talking. Dhoni said I should focus more on batting,” Chahar said.

MS Dhoni, Deepak Chahar
MS Dhoni, Deepak Chahar Photo Credit: IPL/BCCI

Deepak Chahar admits there was a time in his career when his batting peaked more than his bowling, but lack of match practice and opportunities blunted his skills.

“I have been batting since I was young and this pursuit of being an all-rounder had started back then itself. In 2017-18, I used to bat better because I was at home and so I used to practice batting a lot. In fact, I used to focus more on batting than bowling because there was a limit on the number of balls you would bowl in one day because doing more would take a toll on your body,” he said.

“When I went to Pune (Rising Pune Supergiants), I reckon my batting was better than my bowling. But after that, when I started playing more, especially overseas, I didn’t get much chances to perform with the bat. The amount of practice would come down. Whenever I played First-Class, the main batters would get more time. Because of this, the fluency in my batting got affected.”

Deepak Chahar made his IPL debut for Rising Pune Super Giants. Since 2018, he has been an integral part of CSK. In 4 seasons, he played 58 matches for the yellow army and picked 58 wickets with an economy of 7.70.

Deepak Chahar Wasn’t Confident Early Against Sri Lanka Before Scoring A Match Winning Fifty

But Deepak Chahar’s superhero innings of 69 not out of 82 balls proved he still has a lot to offer with the bat. With India struggling at 193/7 in chase of 275, all seemed lost for the Men in Blue before Deepak Chahar played a match-winning innings. He batted defiantly with the tail to guide India home to help his team seal the ODI series in July.

“When I scored that half-century against Sri Lanka, I started off very slowly. In the first 25-30 balls, I didn’t even play shots because I wasn’t confident myself of them coming off. Before that, for the previous 5-6 months, I hadn’t batted. But when you play regularly and do well in matches, the rhythm starts returning,” he pointed out.

Pace bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar pulled his right hamstring during the 3rd T20I against West Indies on Sunday and his participation in the upcoming 3-match series against Sri Lanka is doubtful. The state of injury is being determined.

If it’s a tear, he might miss some part of IPL 2022 as well. His last 3 knocks in ODI cricket are- 69*(82), 54(34), and 38 (38). In 7 ODIs he picked a total of 10 wickets with an economy of 6.02 while in T20Is he picked 26 wickets in 20 matches with an economy of 8.27.

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