INR 56 Crore worth Deepak Chahar had last year, exclaimed that he feels more comfortable bowling during the death Overs.
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With India’s spearhead Jasprit Bumrah officially ruled out of the imminent T20 World Cup in Australia due to back injury, and India’s death bowling woes in particular, still a huge point of concern most so since the Asia Cup 2022 debacle, bowling allrounder Deepak Chahar might be considered by the team management as one of the very few options in that department to fill in the big Bumrah shoes.
With Mohammed Shami ruled out of the aforementioned series after coming up with a positive COVID-19 result ahead of the first T20I, and Chahar having returned with decent performances in both the T20Is, the latter perhaps has moved up the pecking order to get an affirmative nod as Bumrah’s replacement.
It is also worth of a mention, that the 30-year-old had returned with figures of 4-1-24-0 during the second ODI on Sunday, after the rest of the two pacers in Arshdeep Singh (4-0-62-2) and Hashal Patel (4-0-45-0) had leaked runs at 15.5 and 11.2 runs per Over respectively.
When INR 56 Crore worth Deepak Chahar claimed having better death bowling numbers than most designated death bowlers
During an interaction with Cricketer-turned commentator Aakash Chopra last year, Deepak Chahar had claimed that his death bowling stats are better than most bowlers who actually are in a side as their designated death bowler.
“I say this everywhere; people believe I cannot bowl with the new ball. I will need to bowl (in the death) in the first place, for you’ll to form an opinion on whether I can bowl in that phase or not. If I’ll pull out the stats, you’ll be surprised that my numbers are better than most bowlers. In fact, better than the ones who play as a designate death bowler in a team,” remarked Deepak Chahar.
From the point of view of Bumrah’s replacement in the current 15-member World Cup squad, Chahar’s claims cannot be brushed under the carpet.
Chahar’s has bowled at an economy rate of 8.31 rpo in the death (Overs 16-20) in his T20I career so far.
His numbers in this phase are much better than some other possible Bumrah replacements in the squad which include, Mohammed Shami (10.66 rpo), Shardul Thakur (8.92 rpo), Avesh Khan (12.70 rpo), Umran Malik (13.50 rpo), and Mohammad Siraj (13.00 rpo).
As far as the IPL is concerned, ever since he has played for CSK (since 2018), Chahar has returned with an economy rate of 8.34 rpo across 20 innings, and has also scalped 12 wickets too in this phase.
