IPL 2022: I Will Be Very Keen To See How Raj Hangargekar Goes - Aakash Chopra On Youngster Replacing Deepak Chahar

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra was excited to see how the U-19 recruit of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rajvardhan Hangargekar, would do in the upcoming season if he has to fill the shoes of Deepak Chahar.

Chahar sustained a hamstring injury on February 20 during a T20I against the West Indies. He has been out of action since and is also expected to miss a few, if not most of the matches for CSK. They need to find a suitable replacement and Hangargekar is one of them.

“If there was a replacement, he wouldn’t have gone on ₹14 crores, so that is as simple as it is. Yes, you’re going to be missing a lot of wickets in Powerplay overs, but is that the only way to succeed in a T20 game? It is an important component, you pick up early wickets and you get a fantastic start.”

“But isn’t there a different formula to succeed? That is what the CSK would be thinking about. I will be very keen to see how Hangargekar goes. Unknown commodity.. if you have Adam Milne at the other end and Dwayne Bravo to look at the death overs, that’s the kind of plan I would have,” Chopra said in a conversation with ESPNcricinfo.

Chahar was MS Dhoni’s go-to bowler in the powerplays where he would constantly provide breakthroughs. In his absence, others will have to step up as wickets in the powerplay are extremely crucial.

Fortunately enough, CSK has prepared themselves and added extra reserves in the form of Adam Milne and Chris Jordan. Although their death bowling could be a problematic factor, Dhoni could avoid it altogether by bowling them out early on and letting Bravo do his thing at the end.

CSK squad for IPL 2022:

Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, Shivam Dube, Chris Jordan, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Subhranshu Senapati, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, K.Bhagath Varma, C.Hari Nishaanth, N. Jagadeesan, K.M. Asif, Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh.

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