Deepak Chahar: ‘I like to keep my bowling unpredictable’

No matter at what juncture he came to bowl, he knew what exactly the team wanted from him.

Deepak Chahar said that he likes to keep his bowling unpredictable.

Just three T20Is into his career, Deepak Chahar has exuded the smarts of a veteran, in terms of adapting to different game situations and circumstances. The reason, he says, is his persistent planning so much so that even when he’s fielding in the deep, he’s thinking of his bowling. ‘When I am fielding also, I am thinking about my bowling and planning when I will get to bowl and what I have to do. So the whole focus is always on my bowling,” he says.

So no matter at what juncture he came to bowl, he knew what exactly the team wanted from him. “This was the case today also and I knew that at what time I will come to bowl and thought accordingly. We had played against South Africa A side prior to this series and that series also helped me plan things. I had worked on my yorkers and also slow ball variations. When Bavuma was playing, I knew which ball to bowl at him. He is strong against short bowling so my focus was to try variations in my pace and make him play forward and I am happy that it helped the team,” he said.

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For someone who was branded as a new-ball bowler, he bowled spectacularly at the death, his 18th over conceding only three runs besides exiting the dangerous Bavuma. “It is my thinking that I see bowling in death overs more easier as compared to the bowling in power play or in middle overs. I always think that there are two fielders outside the circle when I am bowling and I plan accordingly.”

He revels in keeping the batsmen guessing. “Whether it’s swing or variations, I always plan to make the batsman guessing. When I used to bowl at Pune (Rising Supergiants) during IPL, I depended on more swing as the conditions supported swing. But when the ball does not swing, then I know I have to depend on variations. Today also, the ball swung for the first over and after that, the ball stopped swinging. So I had to rely on variations and the experience of bowling for Chennai Super Kings at Chennai in this year’s IPL helped me,” added Chahar.

Nitin Sharma

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More

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