Deepak Chahar Profile, Biography, Age, Country, Cricket stats, Wife, Height, Salary, IPL and more

Deepak Chahar is a classical swing bowler who added T20 smarts to his game to pick up 6 for 7 against Bangladesh in 2019, then the best bowling figures in T20Is.

After making a sensational first-class cricket debut for Rajasthan in 2010-11, taking 8 for 10 in Hyderabad’s 21 all out, Chahar struggled with injuries and fitness. He then rediscovered himself as a T20 bowler, blossoming under the captaincy of MS Dhoni in Chennai Super Kings’ triumphant return to the IPL in 2018. He did even better next season, finishing third on the wickets table, with 22 at a strike rate of 17.5, including 3 for 26 in the final. Super Kings paid US$1.8 million to keep him at the 2022 auction. However, a back injury ruled him out of that season’s IPL and from the T20 World Cup, for which he was in the reserves, later in the year.

A bowler in the mould of Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chahar learned swing bowling at his father’s coaching academy. Dhoni used him shrewdly with the new ball, often bowling him for three overs in the powerplay. Chahar also kept working on his other skills and turned himself into a capable bowler at the death, which was evident in that record-breaking spell against Bangladesh: four of his six wickets, including a hat-trick, came with a wet old ball in dewy conditions.

Chahar is also a handy lower-order batter. In an ODI in Colombo in July 2021, he steered India’s chase with an unbeaten 69 from No. 8.

Deepak Chahar Biography

Deepak Chahar Physical Statistics

Deepak Chahar Profile

Rejection at 16, prodigy at 18 and oblivion at 24. It has been the story of Deepak Chahar so far. Back in 2008, when Greg Chappell was the director of the Rajasthan Cricket Academy, he had snubbed Deepak’s abilities as a young fast bowler. Then he came storming into recognition by picking up 8 wickets in his debut innings and thus routing Hyderabad for 21, the lowest-ever total in Indian domestic cricket.

However, the wings of his career have never attained full flight as he has been plagued by persistent injuries. Add to that his woes with the old ball and thus India would feel robbed of someone who could have achieved so much more. In six years of first-class cricket, he has accounted for 105 wickets in 35 games at a not-to-be-noted average of 35.17. Even in the IPL, he had been a notable absentee despite being a part of Rajasthan Royals. In 2016, he got picked by the temporary franchise Rising Pune Supergiants whom he represented for two seasons.

The 2016 and 2017 seasons in the IPL weren’t great for Chahar either although he did show flashes of his potential. At the domestic circuit, he was delivering the goods consistently but it requires performances in high-profile tournaments like the IPL for the world to take notice. Plus the competition levels are much higher which tests the cricketer in a big way. Chahar worked harder on his game and his stupendous success in the 2018 Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy (the main T20 domestic tournament in India) made him stake a claim at the IPL auctions where he got snapped up by the Chennai Super Kings.

Although not an extremely fast bowler, Chahar can clock fairly impressive speeds, mostly between 135-140 kph and has the repertoire to be a good white-ball bowler. Apart from his pace bowling, he can also wield the long handle to produce cameos if required. All this makes him a good package and he was keen to have a breakthrough season sooner than later as he aims to make it into the national team. That came in the 2018 and 2019 seasons when he became Chennai’s pace spearhead, bowling lovely new-ball spells and gradually honing his old-ball skills too.

Not surprisingly, a call-up to the national side was round the corner for Chahar and to fast-track the proceedings, the selectors included him in the India A squad for the Tri-series involving Windies A and England Lions. The pacer carried his IPL form and picked up 10 wickets, thereby emerging as the leading wicket-taker for India A. Jasprit Bumrah’s injury meant that Chahar was elevated to the Indian T20I side and he eventually made his debut in the 3rd game of the series. Chahar had a not-so-memorable outing with figures – 1 for 44 in his 4 overs. If he can stay fit, there is no doubt that Chahar will be one of India’s bowling mainstays in white-ball cricket in the years to come.

Deepak Chahar Stats

Bowling

Batting & Fielding

IPL Auction Price History

Deepak Chahar’s Social Media Accounts

Some Lesser-Known Facts About Deepak Chahar

• He is a right-hand batsman and a medium-pace bowler.
• He is a good swinger who can throw the ball at a speed of 140 km per hour.
• At the age of 10, his father brought him to Zila Cricket Academy in Jaipur and introduced him to his coach Navendu Tyagi.
• His father resigned from his job to pay full attention to Deepak’s cricket career and used to ride with him on a bike from Surat to Hanumangarh to make him practice six hours daily at the cricket academy of the town.
• In 2008, he was rejected to play at the state level by the former director of Rajasthan Cricket Association Academy Greg Chappell who said that he couldn’t play cricket at a higher level.
• On 25 October 2010, his T20 debut was Rajasthan v Vidarbha at Jaipur.
• In November 2010, he made his first-class debut (Rajasthan v Hyderabad) at Jaipur.
• On 10 February 2010, he made his List A debut (Rajasthan v Vidarbha) at Indore.
• He has grabbed 21 wickets in 4 under-19 matches (Cooch Behar Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy).
• In his 40 first-class matches, he has scored 883 runs at an average of 18.39 with 113 wickets (average- 36.44). 
• In his 9 List A matches, he has hit only 47 runs (average- 7.83) including 14 wickets (average- 25.42).
• His total score in 25 T20 matches is 98 (average- 9.80) with 29 wickets (average- 22.34).
• He got 5 wickets for 15 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which is one of the best performances of his career.
• From 2011 to 2014, he suffered from different types of injuries and ailments that affected his cricket career badly.
• In January 2018, he was selected by Chennai Super Kings at ₹80 lakh to play in the Indian Premier League.
• He doesn’t eat fast food and likes to eat the meals cooked by his father who (according to Deepak) is his real coach and inspiration.
• In November 2019, he claimed two hat-tricks in three days during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
• After his cricket match (Chennai Super Kings with Punjab Kings) on 7 October 2021, he bent down on his knees and proposed to his girlfriend Jaya Bhardwaj for marriage.