Vijay Hazare Trophy: Deepak Chahar’s 6-for helps Rajasthan register 5-wicket win

Is Deepak Chahar fully fit? His six-wicket haul on Saturday against Gujarat in a Group D Vijay Hazare match in Chandigarh is not only the evidence to his complete recovery from the hamstring injury, but also a confirmation of his match readiness. Rajasthan fast bowlers had Gujarat on the back foot from the outset after they decided to bowl first. Right-arm seamer Deepak scalped a wicket in his first spell and returned to take five more in his second, to bowl Gujarat out for 128 in 29 overs.Deepak finished with the figures of 10-1-41-6, playing an important role to help Rajasthan to a five wicket win.
The 31-year-old, who has played 13 ODIs and 24 T20Is, picked up the injury during the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) and had to sit out for six matches. Before this, he was battling a back injury that kept him out of the entire IPL 2022 season. Moreover, he last played a T20I in October 2022 while it was last year in December that he was seen playing an ODI.
The injuries and complete recovery has kept him on the sidelines for almost a year now. With eyes on a national comeback, all-rounder Deepak is going all out to give his best on the field.
In the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he played five matches and took 10 wickets at an economy of 7.38. The seamer’s first tournament after recovering from hamstring issues was Rajasthan Premier League in August.
Later in the match, Rajasthan had a poor start and at one stage they were reeling at 18/4 in 7.6 overs. But captain Deepak Hooda injected life into the chase with an unbeaten 76 off 79 balls to ensure the team had two wins in as many games.
Brief score: Gujarat 128 all out in 29 overs (Kshitij Patel 31 Chirag Gandhi 43 not out; Deepak Chahar 6-41, Khaleel Ahmed 2-33) lost to Rajasthan 129/5 in 28.4 overs (Deepak Hooda 76 not out, Mahipal Lomror 26 not out; Arzanrzan Nagwaswalla 3-31) by 5 wkts.