Deepak Chahar had made national headlines when he had made his Ranji Trophy debut against Hyderabad, picking 8/10 in an innings and 10 wickets in the match.

He was then seen playing in IPL 2017 for Rising Pune Supergiant and recently made the news again when he ran through the Karnataka side in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018 match at JU Salt Lake Campus ground in Bengal.

Chahar picked 5/15 accounting for R Samarth, Abhimanyu Mithun, CM Gautam, Stuart Binny and Vinay Kumar in Rajasthan’s 22-run victory.

“This is my best bowling in shorter formats and I think we took Karnataka by surprise. I think it’s (today’s performance) very important, because the (IPL) auction is nearby and getting five wickets just before the auction is very good. I hope this performance counts,” Chahar said.

Looking forward to the IPL 2018 auction, Chahar remembered the advice he got from RPS wicketkeeper and former India captain MS Dhoni, during his stint in IPL.

“I had some conversations with Dhoni bhai. I was very comfortable talking to him. He told me to work on my yorkers. I was basically selected as a batting all-rounder, but Dhoni bhai praised my bowling and asked me to work hard on it. He also advised me to improve my fitness,” Chahar recalled.

“For the last three-four years I had been struggling with fitness issues. For me, the most important thing was to stay fit. Now I’m playing without any injuries and it has helped me bowl in good rhythm and (also) add some extra pace. I think I’m bowling close to 140s,” Chahar said.

Talking about Rajasthan’s culture of producing fast bowlers like Pankaj Singh and now Nathu Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti; Deepak said, “It’s all about the culture and trend. When I started playing Ranji, there was no fast bowler in Rajasthan except Pankaj Singh. Nowadays youngsters are encouraged to bowl fast. There’s competition for places. Everyone is under pressure to perform, which keeps you charged and motivated.”