IPL 2018, CSK vs KXIP: Hits and Misses

#3 Hit: Deepak Chahar

Deepak Chahar was quite handy with the bat

Deepak Chahar has been very good with the ball. He’s bowled very well with the new ball and MS Dhoni has often bowled him out inside the first 10 overs. However, he was injured midway through the season and missed a few games. But he has come back really well.

In this game, he was once again good with the ball as he took 1/30 in his four overs. He dismissed Aaron Finch with a beautiful delivery that moved away and found the edge which was taken very well by Suresh Raina at first slip.

It was Chahar’s batting that surprised everyone. When Harbhajan Singh was promoted to No. 5, most of them were surprised, but it seemed like a tactical move as CSK wanted to release some pressure. But when he sent Deepak Chahar in after Harbhajan’s dismissal, it left everyone stunned.

But the 25-year-old pacer scored an excellent 20-ball 38, as he provided impetus to CSK’s innings.

He nudged the ball for the first few deliveries as he made 12 off 11 deliveries. And just when the required run rate was creeping up, Chahar decided to take on the bowling and hit Ravichandran Ashwin for a couple of sixes and a four to take CSK over the 100-run mark (which was the total KXIP had to restrict CSK to qualify).

That over and another six in the next over took the pressure off Raina and it gave momentum to the chase. Chahar did get out in the 17th over but he had done his job as Raina and MS Dhoni finished things off.