'When I met him...': Deepak Chahar recalls his first meeting with CSK skipper MS Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni has been one of the biggest reasons his team's success in the history of the Indian Premier League. The Super Kings captain has led his team to four IPL titles and also to ten tournament playoffs. Ahead of the CSK vs GT IPL 2023 final match, the team's bowler Deepak Chahar has recalled his first meeting with Dhoni. 

While talking on Gaurav Kapur's show, Breakfast with Champions, Deepak Chahar recalled that Stephen Fleming who is currently the head coach of Chennai Super Kings, was also the head coach of Rising Pune Super Giants in IPL 2016. Fleming was very impressed with his batting rather than the bowling but he was not able to make it to the playing XI due to his hamstring injury. 

'The funny thing was that in 2017 I was the 12th man'; Deepak Chahar 

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"When I first met MS Dhoni, I was still batting. Fleming picked me for the Pune team, not for my bowling but for my batting. On the first day of our camp, we had a practice match. I was batting. I came down one. I hit five sixes to get to 30 and then when I ran for the run, I injured my hamstring. By the time I was fit, the team combination was set. Rajat Bhatia was playing the year. Steve Smith became the captain the next year. The funny thing was that in 2017 I was the 12th man for the whole season. Every time he used to tell me, "Be ready. You can play". I used to prepare for all the matches but got disappointed", Deepak Chahar said on Breakfast with Champions. 

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MS Dhoni wanted Deepak Chahar to play at any cost

The 30-year-old right-arm pace bowler was picked by the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2018 auction and he impressed in his first match against the Mumbai Indians. "The next year when the auction happened, they picked me for the team in 2018. During the discussions for the first match, Fleming wanted me to play after a few matches and wanted to include a senior player instead. Then Mahi bhai told him, 'he has to play all 14 matches no matter what. Talk to me about the rest', Later, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan told me that when the team was being formed, my name was written first", Deepak Chahar said.