Deepak Chahar has impressed with his performance in shorter-format last year, but the pacer is not having a good start this new year because he is not part of the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka and Australia because of his injury. In 2019, while playing the last series of the year against West Indies, he suffered from back pain and was ruled out ahead of the final ODI of that year.
Chahar gives the reason behind the back injury which has led to starting this new year on a poor note. He said that he pushed himself hard to play excessive cricket which has now caused a long break from the cricket. He has now learned that he needs to select domestic matches, which one he has to play and which one not.
“The stress fracture in my back is mainly due to playing excess matches,” Chahar told The Telegraph.
“Before the Ranji Trophy began, I was playing almost all matches. In fact, it’s been happening like this for the past two years. So I have to be a bit selective now. Else, I won’t be able to survive.”
Objective to keep performing better: Deepak Chahar
In 2018, he made the debut in the Indian team in the shortest-formats, but it took time to become the regular member of the national side. In between the gaps of international matches, he played domestic cricket for Rajasthan. He was also part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 and 2019 where he served for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
In the home T20I series against Bangladesh, he created history in the shortest format. He managed the world record haul of six for just seven runs, the best bowling figures in the T20I history. In that same game, he became the first Indian bowler to claim T20I hat-trick. He filled the gap of Jasprit Bumrah in the team.
Currently, he is under the rehabilitation period in the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Deepak Chahar is confident that he will come back stronger and will keep practising.
“My objective is to obviously keep performing better, but I will also be doing the required training and exercises to regain my lost pace. Since I was playing continuously, I had lost two-three kilometers [per hour] of pace.”