The speculation over Deepak Chahar's fitness has kept the Chennai Super Kings fans on edge over the past few weeks. The Indian pacer, who was bought back by the CSK for a whopping amount of INR 14 crore in the IPL mega auction last month, was forced to miss India's last limited-overs assignment at home against Sri Lanka, where the side registered a 3-0 series win.
It was initially reported that Chahar is set to miss the first couple of weeks of the tournament; however, 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.
Vettori said Chahar's absence will be a “huge loss” for the CSK and further believes that the team can only replace the Indian pacer with an overseas bowler.
“If he does (miss the start of the season), it is going to be a huge loss," said Vettori. “I think they will have to reconfigure their overseas bowlers. Adam Milne can get a game.. Chris Jordan as well. Those two overseas bowlers could potentially come in. 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.”
{{/usCountry}}“If he does (miss the start of the season), it is going to be a huge loss," said Vettori. “I think they will have to reconfigure their overseas bowlers. Adam Milne can get a game.. Chris Jordan as well. Those two overseas bowlers could potentially come in. 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.”
{{/usCountry}}When asked to name one bowler who can replace Chahar, Vettori named Milne. “I think it'd be Adam Milne. His performance has been exceptional around the world. I think Milne could be more destructive, can swing the ball,” said Vettori.
Wasim Jaffer and Aakash Chopra, meanwhile, believe that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is likely to place his faith on youngsters to fill in for Chahar.
“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,” said Jaffer.
Aakash, meanwhile, added that it isn't necessary CSK need to replace Chahar with a similar wicket-taking bowler up-front.
“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,” said Aakash.
“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.”