Agra-born Deepak Chahar did not find himself on Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) list of retained players ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. Chahar who has been donning the CSK colours since the 2016 edition is hopeful that the five-time IPL-winning franchise will once again go all out for him in the auction.
The pacer is mainly used with the new ball in the powerplay overs. Often, he bowls his quota of four overs on the trot. The 32-year-old claims that he can keep the batters quiet in the era of big scores in IPL during fielding restrictions.
"I was not retained by them in the last mega auction as well. But they went all out for me and bought me back. I don't know what will happen this year, but I know my skill will be valued more now given the fact that around 90-100 runs are being scored in the Powerplay and that's why the teams are scoring more than 200 more frequently. I have proved how valuable I can be in limiting runs in that phase of the game," he told TOI.
CSK's retentions and purse left
CSK retained Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs 18 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (Rs 18 crore), Matheesha Pathirana (Rs 13 crore), Shivam Dube (Rs 12 crore) and MS Dhoni (Rs 4 crore). They can used Right to Match (RTM) card in the mega auction for a capped or uncapped player.
CSK have Rs 55 crore left in the bag. Few prominent players they can retain via RTM in the mega auction other than Chahar are Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Mahesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande.
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Chahar's IPL numbers
In the last season, Chahar played just eight games. He bagged five wickets at an average of 40.40. In IPL 2019, he was the third-highest wicket-taker with 22 scalps to his name from 17 appearances. He has been part of CSK's three IPL-winning squads.
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Chahar's IPL earnings over the years
The first time Chahar was roped in by CSK was in the 2016 edition for his base price of Rs 10 lakh. In IPL 2018, he was brought for Rs 80 lakh and was retained by the franchise in every season. In the last mega auction, the franchise went all out for him. He got a big pay day of Rs 14 crore.
