Wasim Jaffer predicts potential replacements for Deepak Chahar in Chennai’s squad

Deepak Chahar was the highest-priced bowler in the mega auction of Indian T20 League 2022. Chennai paid a hefty sum of INR 14 Cr for Chahar in the auction.

Chennai was pretty settled about their combination with Deepak on board. But their plans for the tournament received a shock when Chahar got injured against West Indies in the third T20I. Chahar is now at the rehab and will probably miss the majority of the season’s first part.

Chennai is in search of an apt candidate to replace Chahar. Wasim Jaffer expressed his opinions on the matter. In his opinion, the franchise now has two options. They can either shift their balance and go for an overseas bowler or they can back their youngsters and take a gamble.

“We could see MS Dhoni giving confidence to the younger guys, the uncapped guys whether it’s Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh who bowls for Delhi in the powerplay Mukesh Choudhary- he’s a left-armer who bowls at decent speeds…. The Mumbai wickets will need a little bit of pace so these guys can bowl,” Jaffer told ESPNcricinfo.

Amongst Jaffer’s three options, Tushar Deshpande is the most experienced. He was seen dismissing Dhoni in a recent clip of the team’s practice session. Tushar Deshpande has previously played five games for Delhi in 2020 and picked up three wickets.

Simarjeet Singh has 24 wickets at an average of 20.33 in the 20 T20 matches of his career, while Mukesh Chaudhary, plays for Maharashtra in the domestic arena, has 16 wickets from 12 games, at an average of 22.93 in his T20 career.

Akash Chopra, another former Indian player, expressed his opinion on the issue saying that there can be no replacement for Chahar. He stated that Chennai might look to tweak their strategy to cover up for Chahar’s absence with the new ball.

“Honestly, if there was a replacement, he wouldn’t have gone for INR 14Cr. This is how simple that is. Secondly, we tend to overemphasize and focus on ‘this is what we are missing.’ Yes, you will be missing a lot of wickets in the powerplay overs but is that the only way to succeed in a T20 game? Yes, it is an important component- you pick up early wickets and suddenly you’ve got a fantastic start. But isn’t there another formula to do well as a team? That’s what Chennai will be thinking right now,” Chopra said.

Chennai will play the season opener against Kolkata on the 26th of March.