Former selector Devang Gandhi shared that speedster Deepak Chahar should be the first-choice option for India in T20Is, at least prior to someone like Shardul Thakur. While Chahar is in Sri Lanka for the ongoing series, Shardul is with India’s Test squad in England for the upcoming five tests as well.
However, Deepak Chahar showed his all-round abilities in the second ODI against Sri Lanka and helped India register a convincing victory with the bat (69* off 82 balls) in a nail-biting match as well. Despite that, Devang Gandhi said that Deepak Chahar should continue to focus on his bowling only.
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In an interaction with The Telegraph, Gandhi stated: “Death bowling has been his concern, but he’s looking to address it. Focus should be on the primary skill, which is Deepak’s bowling. Now if he can keep batting well, it will of course be a boost to India’s lower order. However, in T20Is, Deepak will be my first choice, especially when compared to someone like Shardul Thakur, because he can swing the ball.”
However, Deepak Chahar won a lot of applauds for his steady batting, as he wasn’t looking tensed when India were 193-7 while chasing 276 for the win as well. The pace bowler also picked up two wickets in the second ODI against Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who was Deepak Chahar’s first captain at first-class level, added that he wasn’t surprised with his batting skill. He also revealed that the 28-year-old always took his batting seriously.
He explained: “He used to bowl so well throughout that nobody really paid much attention to his batting. I’m not surprised because right from the beginning, I’ve seen him bat well and with seriousness. His ability was always there, but he used his mind very well in Tuesday’s game, which was very important, and played a mature innings.”
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Meanwhile, India have already won the series 2-0 with one game in hand in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. With Deepak Chahar doing great, it will be interesting to see whether he will be added to India’s T20 World Cup squad or not.
