Pace spearhead Deepak Chahar has been a key performer for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their journey to the IPL 2023 final, where they will face Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Sunday (May 28).

Despite the fitness issues, Chahar has stepped up to the plate for CSK, taking 12 wickets in 9 games this season and skipper MS Dhoni will once again rely on him to provide a breakthrough during powerplay.

However, things were not always smooth for Chahar in the CSK shirt. In a recent episode of Breakfast with Champions, he recalled being reprimanded by Dhoni for bowling a beamer early in his IPL career.

“Sarfaraz (Khan) was batting. Actually I was bowling in the death over for the very first time. They never made me bowl in the death because it was not needed. There were bowlers like Shardul and Bravo to bowl the death overs. Now Bravo got injured. It was a critical match. They needed 42 from 3 overs. I bowled a slower and twisted my ankle. And the ball was full toss and went out. I thought it must have got stuck and I should bowl again. I bowled again and it was the same ball. I was thinking I bowled 2 beamers and he (Dhoni) won’t let me bowl. My career as a death over bowler was over,” Chahar said.

“He (Dhoni came to me and said ‘you act smart as if you know everything. Why are you bowling in this manner?’ I was thinking that my career was over. Then I gave 5 runs off the next 5 balls and after the match he hugged me,” he added.

Deepak Chahar also remembered Dhoni backing him to play all 14 matches in his maiden IPL season even though coach Stephen Fleming wanted a include a senior bowler.

“They picked me in the team in 2018. During the discussion for the first match, Fleming wanted me to play after a few matches and wanted to include a senior player instead. Then Mahi bhai told him, “He has to play all the 14 matches no matter what. Talk to me about the rest”,” the pacer said.