Chennai Super Kings bowler Deepak Chahar has revealed a piece of advice from the great MS Dhoni, on the day that he retired. The legendary wicketkeeper-batsman suggested to Chahar that he should work on his batting ability in addition to his prowess as a swing bowler, which also grew leaps and bounds under Dhoni’s leadership at CSK.
The suggestion from the master himself has done Chahar a great deal of good, with him now a firm contender for the Indian squad in the white-ball formats, especially with a multitude of important tournaments approaching.
Chahar has emerged as quite the revelation, as he has worked a lot on his batting, which was on display a few weeks ago as the Indians took on South Africa in a three-match ODI series which India did lose. However, his batting impressed many, as he struck valuable half-centuries, almost playing a match-winning knock in difficult circumstances in the last ODI.
Deepak’s latest addition to his skillset has now made him a potential solution to India’s woes in the lower middle-order, where the side has needed a pace-bowling all-rounder, a replacement option to Hardik Pandya, who has been dealing with some injury concerns.
However, he is not alone, with Shardul Thakur and, more recently, Venkatesh Iyer also making a case for themselves, although some would argue that the three are very different players.
Chahar was not on the retention list for CSK but was picked up by his former franchise at the mega auction for Rs. 14 crore, which wasn’t very surprising considering his rare skillset. Speaking of Dhoni’s contribution in his meteoric rise to the top, he said:
“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,”.
The 29-year-old also revealed that he used to work a lot on his batting in his earlier days, and always had dreams of becoming a proper all-rounder. He also added that Dhoni’s words boosted his confidence and made him believe that he could add to his skill as a batsman.
“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,”
