The legendary Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain, MS Dhoni, recently shared an incident where pacer Deepak Chahar's stubbornness caused him to lose his cool during an IPL match. This revelation was also discussed by former CSK pacer Mohit Sharma on a podcast, and Chahar himself has spoken about instances where Dhoni scolded him.
Speaking at a RIGI function, Dhoni said that Deepak often told that he was not getting a chance to bowl in the death overs and that the pacer couldn’t deliver when he was given an opportunity.
“This happened a few years back. He has always been an excellent cricketer for us. But he always complained against me saying that I never use him in the death overs. I asked him, 'When you are bowling so well in the powerplay and are taking wickets, then why do you want to bowl in the death?' On 90 per cent of the matches we used to bowl him with the new ball and use another bowler in the death,” Dhoni was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
During a match against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the IPL 2019, Dhoni entrusted Chahar with the old ball in the penultimate over of the game, with the opposition needing 39 runs to win off 12 balls.
Unfortunately, the fast bowler proceeded to deliver consecutive no balls, much to Dhoni's dismay. The incident was captured on video and quickly went viral.
Reflecting on the incident, the esteemed wicketkeeper-batsman revealed that he had explicitly advised Chahar against bowling the knuckleball due to his tendency to sweat profusely. Despite this warning, Chahar disregarded the advice, leading to the costly no balls.
“Now he sweats a lot. And he also loves to use variations a lot. He is an intelligent bowler. So I advised him against bowling the knuckleball because he sweats a lot, but he thinks he knows everything. He had to try that. Usko lagta hain humne daari dhoop mein safed ki hain (He thinks my beard turned grey by staying in the sun).
That led to no balls. Then I went to him, I can't say the exact words, but I told him I didn't want to see all the deliveries in your arsenal. After a lot of thinking, I repeatedly told him to bowl that, but he still did. But at the end of the day, he understood. We all make mistakes and learning from those is important,” he said.
At the recent event, MS Dhoni made it clear that he intends to continue his career for a few more years, suggesting that he may return to the IPL for the 2025 season.
Subsequently, on Saturday, CSK CEO K.S. Viswanathan essentially confirmed that Dhoni will be retained by the franchise.
Also read| MS Dhoni takes cheeky dig at fans speculating IPL retentions, says 'everyone is a team owner....'
