Deepak Chahar drew all the attention on Tuesday night when he batted brilliantly to help India win the 2nd ODI in Colombo. Former India captain and head of this Sri Lanka series Rahul Dravid was seen having a few nervous moments inside the dressing room while Chahar batted in the middle. Chahar revealed what Dravid had told him before he walked out to bat on Tuesday, after leading India to an unlikely three-wicket victory.
After Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for his maiden ODI fifty, scoring 53 off 44 balls, Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar teamed up and put on an 84-run stand for the eighth wicket to bring the game to a close.
Chahar was India’s top scorer, returning an unbeaten 69 to win Player of the Match. After the game, the 28-year-old discussed his innings and revealed what head coach Rahul Dravid told him.
“No better way to win the match for the country. Rahul sir told me to play all the balls. I’ve played a few innings with India A and I think he has belief in me. He told me he thinks I’m good enough to be a No. 7. He has belief in me. Hopefully, in the coming matches I don’t have to bat,” Chahar said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“It was a decent score [to chase] on this wicket. Only one thing that was going on in my mind: this is the kind of innings I’ve been dreaming of. When we came under 50 is when I believed we can win. Before that, it was ball by ball. I took some risks after,” he concluded.
