Deepak Chahar likely to be sidelined for three months

Deepak Chahar's injury woes may have just got worse. He has not only been ruled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, but he will also be out of action in near future after that. His return to action is not likely at least for the next three months.

Sources at the Chennai Super Kings and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have revealed to Cricbuzz that the 29-year-old pacer is out for 12 weeks and it will be quite a progress if he actually makes it to the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia in October-November. His last competitive game was on February 20 this year.

According to a letter written to the BCCI and the CSK managements by the physios of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, where the player was undergoing rehab, Chahar has an L5 injury in his back and it will take a lot of time for recovery. In fact, the Rajasthan cricketer will have to rest for six weeks before restarting his rehab.

"After a hamstring injury (sustained during a T20 game at the Eden in Kolkata against West Indies), he had been undergoing rehab at the NCA hoping to join his IPL franchise in the second half. But he developed back pain while bowling and tests have revealed that he has L5 issue in his lower back," said a CSK source.

Chahar's absence has had tellingly adverse effect in the Super Kings' performance this season. The defending champions, who had bought him for Rs 14 crore, have had an awful start to the season with four back-to-back losses before registering a win in their fifth game.

No replacement sought so far

The Chennai team management, meanwhile, has made it clear that it has not sought a replacement for Chahar, whose powerplay bowling has been key to the team's success in the recent times. "We have left it to the team management and they have not come back to us so far. We do not find an Indian bowler of Deepak's caliber," franchise CEO Kasi Viswanathan said to Cricbuzz.

Cricbuzz understands that a couple of options in Ishant Sharma and Dhawal Kulkarni were looked at, if not exactly considered. Statistically neither matches Chahar's record. While Chahar has 42 wickets (average 28.85, economy rate 7.61) in the powerplay overs since 2018, Ishant has nine scalps (avg 32.55, economy rate 6.65). Kulkarni is no match to either, with five wickets at an average of 73.40 and economy rate of 8.34.

Meanwhile, a BCCI official has said Chahar will not lose out on his IPL revenue despite the fact that he will not be playing a game in the season. "The BCCI has insured IPL contracts of all the players and it has also been paying the premium. Deepak will recover most if not entire Rs 14 crore from insurance," the official said.