Deepak Chahar serves a timely reminder of his white-ball qualities

For much of the past few months, Deepak Chahar’s injury caused a furrowed brow among the Indian faithful. The fast bowler, who pulled up lame during the T20I series against the West Indies in Kolkata, subsequently missed IPL 2022 and there were real concerns if he would rediscover his mojo whenever he returned from injury.

Thus, there was plenty of frenzy when he was named in India’s squad for the ODI series against Zimbabwe. The African nation, despite having gotten the better of Bangladesh recently, aren’t a world-beating outfit. Yet, the fact that the pacer, especially after a long injury lay-off, was considered for selection, added intrigue.

And, one ODI into the series, it is fair to say that Chahar has lived up to those expectations, and has, at the cost of sounding rhetorical, reminded India just what they had been missing all these months, and what they might miss out on if he is not in their first-choice white-ball eleven moving forward.

In between, he has also been named as a standby for the upcoming Asia Cup. Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, two bowlers who were expected to fly out to the UAE, were ruled out due to injuries. Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh, both of whom aren’t as experienced as Chahar, made the cut. That, though, was more down to the Chennai Super Kings pacer’s match fitness, rather than his ability.

So, it was only fitting that in his first competitive game since February, he produced a display that was symbolic of everything good he brings to the table. That he can use this as a springboard to enroll his name for the T20 World Cup later this year, and potentially the ODI World Cup in 2023, is just an extra layer of gloss.

Deepak Chahar was outstanding against Zimbabwe

Chahar’s spell against Zimbabwe on Thursday didn’t quite begin as he would’ve wanted. He got the ball to swing from the outset, although the control was lacking. Unsurprisingly, he sprayed the ball around, leading to four leg-byes off the final ball of his first over. For the next few deliveries, that trend continued, with his prodigious swing not really forcing the batters into committing enough mistakes.

But then, Chahar dug deep into his tactical reserves and unfurled a solution many thought he didn’t possess. A swing bowler by trade, he is not usually expected to test the batters with short deliveries. However, that is exactly what he did to Innocent Kaia, and the latter was left stranded.

Thereafter, the pacer bowled with much more confidence and kept setting batters up. For a significant chunk of his spell, he bowled balls that swung away from the right-handed batters and into the left-handers. Just when Tadiwanashe Marumani thought he had lined Chahar up, the Indian seamer slipped in a delivery that left the batter. Marumani was pressed into pushing at it and offered a regulation chance to wicketkeeper Sanju Samson.

A couple of overs later, the fast bowler tied Wessly Madhevere in knots, before trapping him LBW. That particular delivery threatened to drift down the leg side before snaking away from Madhevere, beating the outside edge and cannoning into the pads.

So, inside six overs of excellent new-ball bowling, Chahar had told India what they had been lacking over the past few months. His biggest asset remains his ability to take wickets up front.

Since Rohit Sharma has taken over, India have made a conscious effort to attack with the new ball a lot more. Bhuvneshwar Kumar did that to perfection against England, and India reaped the rewards. Chahar, in isolation, might seem a very similar bowler, although it could be argued that he gets the ball to swing slightly later than Kumar.

The Rajasthan lad's T20 numbers since 2018 testify for it too. In the IPL, he has accounted for 42 batters during the field restrictions. The next best is Trent Boult, who has outwitted 37 of them in this phase. Chahar, by the way, did not play IPL 2022, indicating how he has been head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.

If Chahar is fit and firing, he adds a lot of different dimensions to the Indian side. He provides batting depth, meaning that India then don’t have to worry about how much their specialist bowlers can bat. He can function primarily in the powerplay and pick up wickets – something he has done for CSK in the past - and can be used intermittently at the death too.

He has now picked up two wickets or more in each of his five previous ODIs. During that sequence, he has also scored 30 or more each time he has batted, which includes an unbeaten 64-run knock to take India to victory against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

These qualities aren’t very ubiquitous, especially in limited-overs cricket. One of the primary reasons for Ravichandran Ashwin’s return was that he can lengthen the batting unit and act as a foil between India’s belligerent middle order and their abnormally long tail. In Chahar, however, they will have a batter with a greater range of white-ball strokes. Additionally, the T20 World Cup is slated to be held in Australia – a place where pitches might aid pacers more than spinners.

Hence, this ODI series against Zimbabwe was a chance for Chahar to tell everyone that he had tided over his injury troubles. And, to quietly mutter into the selectors’ ears that he brings something entirely different to the fore - a pacer who can bat, and who can take wickets at will in the powerplay.

The T20 World Cup is only months away, and there is no guarantee that he will be on the plane to Australia, considering how many games he has missed. From that standpoint, the ODI World Cup next year could be a more realistic goal.

Either way, this discussion can only happen if India feel Chahar is worth the investment. And so far, he has done nothing wrong to make India question that school of thought.