Team India speedster Deepak Chahar on Tuesday night made headlines with his stunning batting in the 2nd ODI in Colombo against Sri Lanka. His unbeaten maiden half-century took India to the finish line convincingly as well that too with 3 wickets in hand. And, after the win, Chahar revealed what the head coach Rahul Dravid had told him before going to bat on Tuesday.

After the dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav, who also scored his maiden ODI half-century (53 off 44 balls), Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar stitched an 84-run partnership for the eighth wicket to finish the chase successfully. Chahar was the top scorer for India, scoring an unbeaten 69 to earn the Player of the Match award as well. After the game, he opened up about his innings and revealed what Rahul Dravid has told him.

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“No better way to win the match for the country. Rahul sir told me to play all the balls. I’ve played a few innings with India A and I think he has belief in me. He told me he thinks I’m good enough to be a No. 7. He has belief in me. Hopefully, in the coming matches I don’t have to bat,” Deepak Chahar said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

“It was a decent score [to chase] on this wicket. Only one thing that was going on in my mind: this is the kind of innings I’ve been dreaming of. When we came under 50 is when I believed we can win. Before that, it was ball by ball. I took some risks after,” he further added.

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Notably, Chahar’s 69* is the second-highest score by an Indian at No.8 position in ODIs. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja tops the chart with his swashbuckling knock of 77 runs against New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup in Manchester as well. However, with this win, India has taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series. The third and final match of the series will take take place at the same venue on Thursday.