Latest reports in a leading daily newspaper suggest that Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) star pacer Deepak Chahar is set to miss out on the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season after suffering yet another injury. The news comes as a blow to the four-time champions, who play Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Tuesday (April 12) in search of their first win of the season.
Chahar has already missed the start of the season due to a quadricep tear. The 29-year-old right-arm medium pacer is currently at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) recuperating from the injury that he suffered during the final T20I match against West Indies. Chahar was subsequently ruled out of the Sri Lanka series and initial reports suggested that he will miss a major part of the IPL 2022. He was boughT BY CSK at the IPL 2022 mega auction for Rs 14 crores.
However, as things go from bad to worse for the defending champions CSK, the latest injury to his back will most likely see him miss out on the rest of the ongoing season. “We are not aware of this back injury. He has been working very hard to get back to shape and play again for us. But for now, he remains unavailable”, a source close to the CSK Management to InsideSport.
Chahar has been prolific for CSK, scalping 58 wickets for the Chennai-based franchise in 58 matches at an economy rate of 7.70. His presence has been duly missed in the CSK starting XI, with the side having lost their first four matches of the season.
Meanwhile, former Australia, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) spin bowler Brad Hogg said that CSK are in extreme need of Chahar’s services in their IPL 2022 campaign. The Rajasthan speedster, who joined CSK in 2018, has also played for Rising Pune Supergiants during the first two seasons of his IPL career.
“The bowling of CSK, there’s a big hole there. Deepak Chahar might not play the whole season. Hopefully, he gets there halfway through the season because they need him – that swing, the way he picks up wickets with the swing bowling in the powerplay overs. It takes a lot of pressure off the other bowlers, especially the spinners in those middle overs,” Hogg said on his YouTube channel.
