‘His ability with the bat gives us a lot more options’: Rahul Dravid highly impressed with Deepak Chahar

By
Babita Sarkar
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Cape Town: Deepak Chahar once again showcased his credentials with an unbeaten half-century on Sunday. Chasing 288 to win, Chahar chipped in with a counter attacking fifty but fell at the very end, with India falling short by 4 runs.

Chahar was promoted to bat at No. 7 and the Indian pacer responded with a fine half-century (54 off 34 balls) to showcase his batting credentials. When India seemed down and out at 223/7, Chahar stitched a valuable partnership with Jasprit Bumrah to bring India closer to the target. Highly impressed with the fast bowler’s all-round show against South Africa coah Rahul Dravid said Chahar will be given more chances over the course of the next one year.

Dravid was all praise for Deepak Chahar during the virtual press conference. “I mean Deepak Chahar has shown in the opportunities he has gotten with us in Sri Lanka and over here well, he has got some really good ability with the bat. We know what he can do with the ball as well. I have seen him at India A as well and I know he can bat really well so certainly gives us a lot more options,” Dravid said to ANI.

Chahar came in to the team as a replacement for senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who went wicketless in the first two ODIs which India lost earlier. Chahar’s performances were a reminder that the 29-year-old could fill in the all-round role for the team. This is Chahar’s second ODI fifty, with the first one coming in Sri Lanka last August, where he saw the team over the line with an unbeaten 69 off 82 balls.

Dravid also noted the all-round performances of Shardul Thakur in the previous matches and said that the team will be looking to give him and Chahar more chances going into the World Cup next year.

“It is nice to have people like him and Shardul Thakur as well, who we have seen in the last couple of games, contribute with the bat as well. So, obviously, the more and more players like this who can contribute lower down, certainly makes a big difference and give us more options. Certainly we would like to give Deepak more games along with Shardul and lot of other people who can step up in the course of next year or so and give us depth in the side,” Dravid added.

When asked about the plans for the 2023 World Cup, Dravid stated: “I think this ODI series has been a good eye-opener for us. We have not played a lot of ODIs, this has been my first stint with the ODI side. Even the team itself has not played many ODIs after the 2019 World Cup. Luckily, we have got time to go before the 2023 World Cup. It is going to be a lot of cricket in white-ball format till 2023.”

“It is going to be a good opportunity for us to really reflect and learn and keep getting better. We will get better, there is no doubt that. We certainly good do better with the batting in middle overs, we understand the template and we know a large part of that template is also dependent on the balance of your squad,” he concluded.

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