IPL 2022: Irfan Pathan Picks Deepak Chahar's Replacement For Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings dealt with a huge blow ahead of IPL 2022 as their star pacer Deepak Chahar is set to miss the majority of the season. Chahar has picked up a right quadricep injury which will keep him out of the game for some time. CSK is now fretting over his replacement with the first match less than a week away.

Meanwhile, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan who has played alongside MS Dhoni at CSK previously in the IPL has come up with a suggestion. Irfan Pathan feels that CSK have a “fantastic young talent” that has the ability to replace Chahar until his return.

He suggested the name of Rajvardhan Hangargekar who recently played in the U-19 World Cup for India. He made some notable performances in India’s victorious campaign of the tournament. He made an impact with both bat and ball which fetched him a contract with CSK for 10.5 crores.

“Shardul Thakur isn’t there as well so you need to make sure that you find a replacement. They have one guy who is young, is raw – Hangargekar. You know he is a fantastic young talent. If a young guy comes into other team I might be bit more worried but they have MS Dhoni as their leader, their captain behind the stumps and that makes things a lot easier for the younger guys. So I feel they nearly found some sort of replacement,” Pathan said to Star Sports.

Not Easy For CSK To Find Deepak Chahar’s Replacement: Irfan Pathan

Deepak Chahar picked up the quadriceps injury in the series against West Indies in Kolkata. As it turned out, he missed the next series against Sri Lanka and now will also miss most of the IPL season. He is likely to miss the tournament until mid-April. However, Pathan feels that CSK will have to rely on Hangargekar until Chahar’s return and also backed the youngster.

“Obviously for Deepak Chahar, it is not easy to find because the kind of bowler and the skills he brings to the table like swinging the ball around and getting early wickets. As soon as he gets fit he comes into the playing XI but till then they need to reply on Hangargekar. I think he will be the guy who will actually come with a lot of potential,” he added.

CSK play their opening game against KKR on March 26 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Also Read: IPL 2022: CSK vs KKR- 3 Player Battles To Watch Out For