26-year-old leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has been roped in by Surrey for their final County Championship match of the season against Hampshire starting September 24. Chahar who last played for India in T20 World Cup 2021 found a place in Surrey side as they lacked spin options with Will Jacks and Cam Steel injured. In addition, left-arm spinner Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore was expected to return but he is yet to recover from a finger injury.
"Adding Rahul to the squad gives us another spin option at the Utilita Bowl,” Surrey's high-performance advisor Alec Stewart said.
"We always knew that we would be missing players for the final period of the season and try to plan accordingly given the potential surfaces and the opposition we're playing.
"We had originally earmarked for Sai Kishore to return for the latter stages of the season but he unfortunately has a finger injury resulting in an operation has meant he was unavailable."
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Chahar could join Surrey just for one match as he was registered to play for the club early in September. Surrey did not flout any ECB regulations as they did not need the services of Chahar for the home games against Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire. The Rajasthan-born leggie is ready to make an impact in the high-stake game.
"I'm excited to join Surrey for this week's match," Chahar said. "I'm coming here to have an impact and help the team in their final match of the season."
Surrey desperate for a win
On the points table, Surrey are currently placed second with 189 points from 13 games. Nottinghamshire are ahead of them with 203 points. Nottinghamshire's 20-run win over Surrey handed them a lead of 14 points. Nottinghamshire will face Warwickshire at home in their final match of the season.
Chahar’s first-class record
Chahar's last first-class game was in October 24. He has played 24 first-class games so far, picking 87 wickets at an average of 28.01, including seven fifers.
Chahar’s numbers in international cricket
He has represented India in one ODI and three T20Is. In his only ODI appearance in 2021 against Sri Lanka, he claimed three wickets for 54 runs in a losing cause. In six T20Is, he bagged seven wickets at an average of 23.85. For T20 World Cup 2021, he was picked ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal after an impressive Indian Premier League (IPL) season for Mumbai Indians (MI) bagging 13 wickets.