India all-rounder Deepak Chahar, was among the top picks on Indian Premier League mega auction Day 1. Chahar on Saturday got acquired by CSK for Rs 14 crores in the mega auction. For Chahar, a bidding war took place between CSK and Rajasthan Royals and the pacer ultimately went to Chennai.
Chahar had been part of the CSK set-up, a Powerplay specialist. He swings the balls, which not many Indian pacers do in modern-day cricket. His batting pyrotechnics lower down the order adds value to his game.
“We (Indian team) were travelling from Ahmedabad to Kolkata. We were watching the auction on the phone, the whole team was watching it. Everyone was asking ‘kitna ho gaya?’ When I reached till Rs 14 crore, I was thinking ‘I should not go for more than this’ because if CSK pulled out after that, I would have been very sad. I wanted to play for CSK because I can’t imagine myself playing for any other colour.
“At one time, I thought it was too much. As a CSK player, I also want the team to build a good team and we can buy some other players.” Chahar told Star Sports.
Speaking about his reunion with Dhoni and the management staff of the Chennai-based franchise, Chahar said, “I am really happy to be back in Chennai Super Kings. I don’t think there will be any difference. When I go back, I will be seeing the same faces over the last four years, maybe over the last six years because I was with the Pune side and half the players were there. I could not have asked for a better auction than this,” .
I have never spoken about all this to Mahi bhai or the CSK management (about retention). They just assured me that in 2018, I met Kasi sir and Srinivasan sir and they told me that I was going to play for Yellow always.I took his word that day and after that, I have never spoken about retention or anything. Before the auction also, I didn’t speak anything. I knew that CSK would pick me,” he added.