At the IPL 2022 auction, Chennai Super Kings assembled a squad with more or less the same composition as last year. The four-time IPL champions, who decided to persist with MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali as their four retained players, spent wisely at the two-day auction event in Bengaluru and put together a squad that has resembled CSK in the past.
With most of old and a touch of new, CSK brought back some its most genuine match-winners. The likes of Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu and Deepak Chahar for ₹2 crore, ₹4.4 crore, ₹6.75 crore and ₹14 crore respectively. Chahar, in fact was CSK's costliest buy at the auction and the second most expensive overall behind his India teammate and Mumbai Indians' Ishan Kishan.
And why wouldn't they? Chahar has been brilliant not only with the ball but even with the bat, scoring two vital half-centuries for India – first against Sri Lanka last year and most recently in South Africa. While for many, Chahar shining with the bat is new, the 29-year-old reveals that ever since he took up cricket, he has always concentrated on batting. However, what really triggered Chahar's batting turnaround was a piece of advice from the legendary MS Dhoni, on the evening the CSK captain announced his retirement from international cricket.
"One day Mahi bhai said to me… 'you have done a good job with the bowling but haven't justified your batting. I think you should do that'. He told me the day he announced his retirement. We were sitting in the evening and talking. Dhoni said I should focus more on batting," Chahar told SportsYaari on their YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}"One day Mahi bhai said to me… 'you have done a good job with the bowling but haven't justified your batting. I think you should do that'. He told me the day he announced his retirement. We were sitting in the evening and talking. Dhoni said I should focus more on batting," Chahar told SportsYaari on their YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}Chahar admits there was a time in his career when his batting peaked more than his bowling, but lack of match practice and opportunities blunted his skills.
"I have been batting since I was young and this pursuit of being an all-rounder had started back then itself. In 2017-18, I used to bat better because I was at home and so I used to practice batting a lot. In fact, I used to focus more on batting than bowling because there was a limit on the number of balls you would bowl in one day because doing more would take a toll on your body," he said.
"When I went to Pune (Rising Pune Supergiants), I reckon my batting was better than my bowling. But after that, when I started playing more, especially overseas, I didn’t get much chances to perform with the bat. The amount of practice would come down. Whenever I played First-Class, the main batters would get more time. Because of this, the fluency in my batting got affected."
But Chahar's superhero innings of 69 not out of 82 balls proved he still has a lot to offer with the bat. With India struggling at 193/7 in chase of 275, all seemed lost for the Men in Blue before Chahar played an innings he will live to tell his grandchildren. He batted and batted defiantly with the tail to guide India home to help his team seal the ODI series in July. It was there that Chahar knew that the batter in him was not done yet.
"When I scored that half-century against Sri Lanka, I started off very slowly. In the first 25-30 balls, I didn't even play shots because I wasn't confident myself of them coming off. Before that, for the previous 5-6 months, I hadn't batted. But when you play regularly and do well in matches, the rhythm starts returning," he pointed out.