‘Chennai Super Kings have not retained me but…’: Deepak Chahar ahead of IPL 2025 auction | Cricket News
NEW DELHI: India pacer Deepak Chahar last played an Indian Premier League (IPL) match for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on May 1 before making an exit from the tournament owing to an injury.
In the 8 matches he played in the 2024 season, Chahar took 5 wickets at an economy of 8.59 before the injury struck.
Chahar has represented CSK since the start of his IPL career, but the five-time champions did not retain the seamer whose career has been hit by recurrent injuries.
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Talking to Times of India, Chahar, who played all the four Ranji Trophy matches so far for Rajasthan this season and bowled 99 overs with 13 scalps, is hopeful that CSK will go all out for him at the auction.
On not being retained by CSK, the 32-year-old right-arm bowler said, “I was not retained by them in the last mega auction as well. But they went all out for me and bought me back. I don’t know what will happen this year, but I know my skill will be valued more now given the fact that around 90-100 runs are being scored in the Powerplay and that’s why the teams are scoring more than 200 more frequently. I have proved how valuable I can be in limiting runs in that phase of the game.”
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CSK retained Ruturaj Gaikwad, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja and the legendary MS Dhoni, ahead of the IPL auction scheduled for November 24 and 25.
Chahar expressed his wish to don the yellow jersey again and wanted MS Dhoni’s side to bid for him
“I think they (CSK) will bid for me again. I would like to don the yellow jersey again and if not that, then I would want Rajasthan Royals to bid for me,” Chahar said.
In the last few years, Chahar has been dealing with two big injuries. One was a stress fracture in the back and the other one was in quads, grid-three tears.
He said that twice he had dealt with back issues and had spent 18 months in rehab in the last three years.
But the pacer is now confident about his body and hopeful that the hard yards he put in the recent months will help him revive his career.
