IND vs SL 2nd ODI – Rahul Dravid’s Masterstroke: Up until Tuesday, Deepak Chahar was known as a pace bowler who could swing the ball. His IPL performance propelled him to Team India. But nowhere in his CV, has been mentioned that he could bat his team to win – but coach for India’s team to Sri Lanka Rahul Dravid thought otherwise. According to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, it was Dravid’s Masterstroke to promote Chahar ahead of India’s Vice-Captain.
Result – Chahar’s heroics with bat led India to a stunning 3-wicket win against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, courtersy Rahul Dravid’s Masterstroke.
IND vs SL 2nd ODI: Rahul Dravid’s Masterstroke; Bhuvneshwar Kumar confirms, ‘It was Dravid’s idea to promote Deepak Chahar’
At 193/7 with Krunal Pandya, the last designated batsman back in the dugout, India still needed 84 runs to win and a defeat looked inevitable. But Deepak Chahar batted his way through the last over to lead India to 9th straight ODI series win against Sri Lanka.
Also Read: Ind vs SL 2nd ODI: Deepak Chahar shines as India beat Sri Lanka by 3 wickets to seal series
IND vs SL 2nd ODI – Rahul Dravid’s Masterstroke: Before the 2nd ODI against Sri Lanka, although Deepak Chahar had scored half-centuries in domestic cricket, those came against Odisha and Bihar. His highest score in IPL was 39 and 12 in ODIs. Not many trusted him with the bat. But Rahul Dravid knew his potential having seen him bat during India A tours, especially his 39 against England Lions and 38 against South Africa A were enough for Rahul Dravid to see potential in him.
Just silently sits in a corner to sip some water post his batting heroics 👌🏻🔝👍🏻
What a knock tonight from Deepak Chahar 🙌🏻 #TeamIndia #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/mWr2DY1zPA
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 20, 2021
“He played with India A under Rahul Dravid before and he was good in those series. So, he knew Deepak can bat and hit a few balls well. It was Rahul Dravid’s call to send him ahead of me and the way he batted he proved the call right. He has batted well in Ranji Trophy few times so it wasn’t a tough call but it’s good to see the way he scored those runs,” Bhuvneshwar Kumar said in the post-match press conference.
IND vs SL 2nd ODI – Rahul Dravid’s Masterstroke: While it was Deepak Chahar’s day, Bhuvneshwar Kumar played a leader’s role from the other end. He let him flourish, just like MS Dhoni did to him against the same opponent in 2017 to lead India to a similar three-wicket victory. On Tuesday, he donned Dhoni’s role and mentored Deepak.
“It was a similar situation. But we didn’t do much planning. The idea was to play till the last over and get as close as possible. But we never thought of winning the match. We only thought of batting as deep as possible. The way Deepak batted was just amazing,” Bhuvneshwar Kumar said.
Also Read: IND vs SL 2nd ODI: Hardik Pandya’s super flop show continues, is he really fit?
IND vs SL 2nd ODI: ‘No words on Hardik Pandya, I think he is alright’
While India did come out victorious in the end, it was Hardik Pandya whose potential injury concerned many. He was seen clutching his lower back, a problem that he has been facing for quite some time and forced him out of bowling action. It raised concerns that he might have got the injury back. He did bowl one over but didn’t get to bowl again and had to be contained with bowling just 4 overs. But Bhuvenshwar said Hardik looked fine after that and he didn’t think the all-rounder was having any niggle.
“As much as I know, there is no niggle and concern. I am sure he is fine as he came to bat. We will have to see,” the vice-captain on the tour said.
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