India pacer Deepak Chahar has said that he’d love to play Test cricket for the national side and is ready to prepare accordingly if he is told in advance. Chahar has been a regular in Indian white-ball cricket, but injuries have hampered his career, robbing him of a consistent run in international cricket.
Chahar recently recovered from a long-standing injury and was included in India’s T20I squad for the last two matches against Australia of the ongoing series.
Deepak Chahar spoke about his ambitions to play Test cricket for India, saying that he will be ready for red-ball action and break the perception that he is predominantly a white-ball bowler. He has more than 130 wickets in 47 first-class Test matches.
"There is preparation involved in everything we do. If you look at it, my preparation was good for the Ranji Trophy and also for the IPL (last season). I will not be able to play a Test match if I am suddenly informed that I'll play a Test. For that matter, no one else probably can. If I am told one month in advance, then I'll prepare accordingly. I will increase my workload accordingly. I have the swing, I have the ideas, it's just that I'll need a month to prepare. I would love to play Tests for India," Deepak Chahar told Jio Cinema.
Chahar had missed the IPL 2022 season due to a back injury, which made him miss the T20 World Cup 2022. The following year, he sustained a hamstring injury that sidelined him for six crucial games during the IPL 2023. Despite these hurdles, Chahar managed to make a substantial impact in the matches he played for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), picking up 13 wickets across 10 games.
The opportunity to play for India has come at the right time for Chahar, giving him a chance to audition for next year’s T20 World Cup. The Rajasthan pacer did well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, picking 10 wickets in just 5 matches.
"I like all pitches except those that only favour batsmen. I prefer pitches that are either slow or those that have some grass. On those with grass, it's guaranteed that you will be hit in the later stages. The slower pitches don't have grip, so I prefer them because swing, I can extract in the air. I rely a lot on my slower balls and have also worked on new variations. I bowl the knuckle ball. I now have developed a nice leg-cutter. The off-cutter works well for me. Also, I have worked on the slower bouncer," he added.
Chahar has a good chance of making it into the playing XI for the fourth T20I on December 1, possibly replacing Prasidh Krishna, who has been expensive in all three matches he has played.
