The speculation over the fitness of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) all-rounder, Deepak Chahar has been rising quite a bit and it has kept the fans on edge over the past few weeks. He was bought for a whopping amount of INR 14 crore in the IPL mega auction last month. He was initially expected to miss the first couple of weeks of the IPL 2022, but there has been no official confirmation for the same. In a discussion for ESPNCricinfo, former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, Aakash Chopra, and Wasim Jaffer discussed the issue surrounding Chahar in detail.
During the discussion, Daniel Vettori said, “If he does (miss the start of the season), it is going to be a huge loss. I think they will have to reconfigure their overseas bowlers. Adam Milne can get a game.. Chris Jordan as well. That would mean someone like Conway misses out and they would have to bring Uthappa in. I don’t think they can replace him with a domestic bowler, they will have to replace him with an international bowler.”
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When asked to name one bowler who can replace Chahar, Daniel Vettori named Milne. Wasim Jaffer and Aakash Chopra, meanwhile, believe that MS Dhoni is likely to place his faith on youngsters to fill in for Chahar.
Wasim Jaffer said, “I think MS Dhoni will be giving confidence to younger guys. Whether it be Tushar Deshpande or Simranjeet Singh who bowls for Delhi in Powerplay. Mukesh Choudhary bowls at a decent pace.”
On the other hand, Aakash Chopra opined that it isn’t necessary for CSK need to replace Chahar with a similar wicket-taking bowler up-front.
Aakash Chopra said, “If there was a replacement, he wouldn’t have gone on ₹14 crore, so that is as simple as it is. Yes, you’re going to be missing a lot of wickets in Powerplay overs, but is that the only way to succeed in a T20 game? It is an important component, you pick up early wickets and you get a fantastic start. But isn’t there a different formula to succeed? That is what the CSK would be thinking about.”
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He concluded saying, “I will be very been to see how Hangargekar goes. Unknown commodity.. if you have Adam Milne at the other end and Dwayne Bravo to look at the death overs, that’s the kind of plan I would have.”
