Deepak Chahar goes on to say that Rahul sir's belief in his batting ability pushed him to succeed.

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Wednesday, 21st July 2021

Deepak Chahar, an unexpected hero with the bat in the second One-Day International against Sri Lanka, said on Tuesday that coach Rahul Dravid's faith in his batting pushed him to produce a match-winning innings for his team. After India lost six wickets for 160 runs while chasing 276 runs, Chahar came ahead of the more experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the batting order. In the end, they put on an unbeaten 84-run stand to help India win by three wickets.

“There's no greater way to win the game for the country than this. I was instructed by Rahul sir to play all of the balls. I've played a few innings for India A (during Dravid's tenure as coach), and I believe he believes in me.

“He told me he thinks I can be a No. 7,” I said (but he batted at 8). He believes in me. Hopefully, I won't have to bat in the upcoming games. I started to feel we could win when we got under 50 points. Previously, it was ball by ball. “After that, I took some risks,” Chahar stated at the post-match press conference.

Prior to this game, he had only scored 12 times in international cricket.

“It was a hot day out there, but we performed well.” I managed to get two wickets. We were able to bring them to a halt at 270 miles per hour (275 actually). On this wicket, it was a respectable total.

Also Read: India thrash Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in the series opener, with Shikhar Dhawan and Ishan Kishan starring.

“Only one thought ran through my head: this is the kind of inning I've been hoping for. “There is no better way to win the match for the country,” he remarked of his mentality in the centre.

In the first ODI, India romped to victory, but it needed a lot more effort on Tuesday.

Shikhar Dhawan, the captain, said it was a valuable lesson for the team's younger members.

“We were confident in our ability to pursue it, but we didn't get off to a good start. It was an excellent lesson for them to learn. We'll learn a lot as a team from these types of games, and they'll learn how to manage games like these.

“Everyone displayed a strong sense of self-awareness. The chances were slim, but we knew he (Chahar) was hitting the ball well in the nets. His foresight, his calculation - they didn't take on the legspinner (Hasaranga) in the last four overs because he was lethal at the time.

“I thought the way Sri Lanka structured their innings, batting, and bowling - bringing on the spinner early - and fielded was interesting to observe and learn from. They put in a lot of effort, and I'm delighted we came out on top,” Dhawan added.

Sri Lanka lost a game that they were leading, and captain Dasun Shanaka was understandably disappointed.

“I am quite pleased with the guys' performance. They put up a lot of effort to win. The Indian guys, particularly Deepak, who stole the game away from us, played a fantastic game.

“I believe we got off to a great start today. We lost wickets in the middle phase. We shouldn't give them easy wickets in the upcoming game, in my opinion. “Until the last powerplay, we should bat well,” he remarked.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source

The Hindu