Deepak Chahar expressed his desire to get back to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) setup. The right-arm pacer’s comments comes after he was bought by Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2025 auction.
Chahar made his IPL debut in 2016 with Rising Pune Supergiant under the leadership of MS Dhoni. Playing for the franchise until 2017, he was bought by CSK in 2018. The 32-year-old had a breakthrough 2019 season, where he scalped 22 wickets. to help the Super Kings emerge as the runner-up.
After picking a total of 26 wickets in the next two seasons, Chahar became the most expensive Indian pacer to be bought in the IPL auction history with an amount of 14 Crore ahead of the 2022 edition. However, he missed the entire season due to injury concerns.
Deepak Chahar has not found his former self in the last two seasons, picking 18 wickets in as many games. He could feature in only eight games last season, before succumbing to injury.
After recovering from the injury and delivering fine performances in the domestic cricket, the veteran pacer was sold for INR 9.25 crore to Mumbai. This ended his association with the Chennai-based franchise, which also helped him to earn a national call-up.
Although Chahar was happy with MI securing his services, he still wanted to ply his trade for CSK due to the support from his former leader, Dhoni. Certainly, Chahar had been Dhoni’s lethal weapon to secure crucial breakthroughs in the powerplay. On many occasions, the 43-year-old bowled out Chahar’s four overs due to his ability to take wickets with the new ball.
However, Deepak Chahar understands auction dynamics and felt that it wasn’t possible for CSK to go beyond certain limit to acquire him in the auction.
“Mahi bhai has supported me from the start, that’s why I wanted to go to CSK. But my name came on the second day at the auction, so I had a fair idea that it would be difficult for me to get back to CSK. They had a low purse, but still bid till INR 9 crore despite a purse of INR 13 crore,” Chahar said in an interview with Sports Tak.
“I had made up my mind that it would be difficult. Last year, my name came first, that’s why it was easier to get back to CSK,” he added.
Deepak Chahar last played for India in December 2023
Deepak Chahar made his India debut in a T20I fixture against England in July 2018. A few months later, he played his first ODI against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup.
In November 2019, Chahar returned with exceptional figures of 6/7, while also taking a hat-trick in a T20I game against Bangladesh in Nagpur.
However, injury concerns dampened Deepak Chahar’s international career, as he last played for India on December 1, 2023. He ended the game with figures of 2/44 in a T20I fixture against Australia in Raipur. So far, Chahar has scalped 47 wickets in 38 international games (25 ODIs and 13 T20Is).
FAQs
How many wickets has Deepak Chahar taken in IPL?
77
What is Deepak Chahar’s finest performance in IPL?
4/13 against PBKS in 2021
