Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has picked probable replacements of ace all-rounder Deepak Chahar in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squad for the first couple of games. The defending champions will miss Chahar in the initial games due to an injury.
The all-rounder from Rajasthan suffered a quadricep tear during the three-match T20I series against West Indies and missed the T20Is against Sri Lanka. While it was reported that Chahar might miss the first half of IPL 2022, but there will be no need for surgery making him available after the first few matches.
Fresh start #revovery #road pic.twitter.com/znicdM5fGV
— Deepak chahar 🇮🇳 (@deepak_chahar9) March 12, 2022
CSK can either shift their usual balance and replace him with an extra overseas bowler like Chris Jordan or take a bigger gamble with an inexperienced pacer. Speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s show ‘Runorder’, Wasim Jaffer said:
“We could see MS Dhoni giving confidence to the younger guys, the uncapped guys whether it’s Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh who bowls for Delhi in the powerplay [or] Mukesh Choudhary – he’s a left-armer who bowls at decent speeds… The Mumbai wickets will need a little bit of pace so these guys can bowl.”
Meanwhile, Tushar Deshpande is the most experience of the three players. He was earlier part of Delhi Capitals in the IPL. He was recently seen dismissing MS Dhoni in CSK training session.
On the other hand, Simarjeet has picked up 24 wickets from 20 T20 matches for Delhi while Chaudhary has 16 wickets.
CSK hope Deepak Chahar to recover quickly
The four-time IPL champions will hope the all-rounder, who was acquired for INR 14 crores at the auction, to return to action quickly.
He is currently at the National Cricket Academy fighting against time to be fit for IPL 2022. Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra feels there isn’t a straightforward replacement available for Deepak Chahar.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former cricketer said:
“Honestly, if there was a replacement, he wouldn’t have gone for â‚ą14 crore. This is how simple that is. Secondly, we tend to overemphasize and focus on ‘this is what we are missing.’ Yes, you will be missing a lot of wickets in the powerplay overs but is that the only way to succeed in a T20 game? Yes, it is an important component – you pick up early wickets and suddenly you’ve got a fantastic start. But isn’t there another formula to do well as a team? That’s what CSK will be thinking right now.”
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