I knew my son had potential when I saw him play as a 12-year-old, says Deepak Chahar's father Lokendrasingh

It was a dream night for pacer Deepak Chahar. Picked in a bowling line-up that had mostly new faces, the 27-year-old decided to pour it out in the third match of the T20I series against Bangladesh when it really mattered. Chahar ran through the batting line-up of a spirited Bangladesh side to end up with dream figures of six wickets for seven runs in 3.2 overs as the hosts thrashed the Tigers by 30 runs to win the match and the series 2-1.

For Chahar, who was playing in his seventh T20I, it marked the unfolding of a bigger dream. It will not be easy for the Rajasthan paceman to maintain his national berth when some big names make a return but his top-class performance in Nagpur will certainly be in public memory for a long time to come.

His 6/7 are the best bowling figures in the Men’s T20Is and bettered Yuzvendra Chahal’s 6 for 25 which was the Indian best earlier. He also became the first Indian bowler to claim a hat-trick in the T20Is.

Chahar’s family is also living the dream with him. “He must have bowled at least one lakh deliveries in the nets before this performance came along,” NDRV Sports cited agencies quoting Chahar’s father Lokendrasingh Chahar as saying. It was a night that Lokendrasingh, who is a retired Indian Air Force employee, had been always waiting for. One of his cricketer sons (the other one Rahul is a promising spinner) produced a “magical performance”, the seeds of which were sown on a turf wicket in Agra where the elder brother was born.

“Now I feel that the dream that we both had harboured is slowly getting realised,” the elated father said from Agra. “When I quit my job in the Indian Air Force, I knew what I was doing. I never felt that it was a sacrifice. I knew that my son had potential when I saw him play as a 12-year-old. He had a few natural qualities,” he added.

Chahar’s name is not new though. He made an unbelievable Ranji Trophy debut in 2010 by taking eight wickets for just 10 runs against Hyderabad in Jaipur to skittle them out for 21. That performance by a 18-year-old still remains the most-watched domestic cricket video on YouTube. The swing bowler in Deepak Chahar was always promising but injuries kept hurting him and his father believes he was hit by them at crucial points of his career.

“I would say he sustained injuries at important phases of his career. The timing of the injury also becomes very important,” said Lokendrasingh.

Deepak Chahar has impressed in IPL and was among World Cup stand-by players

Deepak Chahar then went on to impress in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Mahendra Singh Dhoni used him effectively for Chennai Super Kings after seeing him playing for Rising Pune Supergiant. He had a fabulous 2019 season in the IPL with 22 wickets in 17 games. He was also among the stand-by players that India picked for the ICC World Cup but the bowler really needs some serious luck to make into the jam-packed line-up.

[interaction id=”5dc6bf20173fc165efba1101″]