Deepak Chahar will play for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2024.
Chahar’s father suffered a stroke while at a wedding and was hospitalized. The pacer immediately rushed to be with him and ultimately chose to be with his father and decided to skip the South Africa tour altogether.
Chahar said his father comes first, adding that it was an easy decision for him to be there for him even if it meant missing the tour of South Africa.
“For me, my father comes first. I am here only because of him. Whatever I have achieved is because of my father. If I am not there for him in those situations, then obviously, what kind of son I am?
If the series was in India, then I would have surely tried to play. You can come to the hospital if you need within 4-5 hours. But obviously, (from) South Africa it takes 2-3 days to come back. It was an easy decision to be with my father, any son would do that,” Chahar told PTI.
Furthermore, he added that he didn’t play in the Afghanistan T20I series as he hadn’t trained while tending to his father. After his father recovered, Chahar went to the National Cricket Academy to train and is pushing for a spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad.
“I was with my father in the hospital for 25 days. He was not in Agra. He was admitted in Aligarh. We all had to stay there. I was only able to do some exercises. I was not able to do any cricketing activities. That's why I was not ready for the Afghanistan series. I had not practiced for a month or so.
After that, I went to the NCA. I started my practice again and now I am fully fit. Everything is good. I trained really hard for the IPL and the World Cup,” Chahar added.
Deepak Chahar will have the IPL 2024 to push his case for the T20 World Cup 2024, as the pacer will turn out for Chennai Super Kings.