The Pressure was there: Deepak Chahar opens on his comeback to the Indian team
Deepak Chahar made a resounding comeback
Team India pacer Deepak Chahar announced his return to the Indian team in style as he went on to register his career-best ODI figures of 3/27 against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club. Chahar wrecked the top order of the hosts with his swinging deliveries in the initial overs.
The bowling all-rounder took a long break from competitive cricket after suffering a back injury earlier this year. The CSK's pacer also missed the entire season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.
The 30-year-old was recuperating from a quadricep tear at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) when he sustained a back injury while undergoing rehab in Bengaluru and missed out on six months of cricketing action.
Speaking at the press conference after the series opener against Zimbabwe, the swinging pacer conceded that he knew that he was going to make a comeback in the series and he was preparing himself for the assignment accordingly.
"I knew I would make my comeback in this series, which is an ODI series, so I started loading my body accordingly. The day I started bowling, I bowled six overs and then when I played 2-3 practice games, I bowled a full quota of 10 overs,"
Deepak Chahar making a case for himself for T20 World Cup 2022
Team India tried plenty of options in Chahar's absence, of which few have piqued the interest of the overlookers and cricket fraternity. Weighing in on the same, Chahar accepted that making a comeback was difficult as many other players were competing for the same spot.
"Difficulty was there. Because you are trying to regain your place in the side and the interim, people who played have also performed and consolidated their places,"
"So to regain your spot, you have to put up a good performance, Obviously pressure was there and I wanted to perform at the first opportunity because that's all that a player can control,"
The Rajasthan seamer looked in a sublime touch on his return to the Indian team and he must be eager to replicate the same performance in the remaining two ODIs to make a good case for himself for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Notably, Chahar has been slotted in the Upcoming Asia Cup 2022 as a standby player where India will open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on August 28.
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