Rahul Chahar

Cricket runs in his genes. His elder brother Deepak picked up 8 wickets on his Ranji debut and helped Rajasthan skittle out Hyderabad for 21. Rahul though decided to be a leggie after getting the approval of his elder brother and uncle, who have helped him nurture his talent over the years.

At a very young age, Rahul decided to sacrifice his studies and devote his full attention to cricket. He graduated nicely through age-level cricket and finally had the chance to represent India under-19. But his biggest moment under the sun was getting picked for Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2017. The leggie got a great chance to play under the tutelage of MS Dhoni and Steve Smith. Though he played only 3 games, he must have learnt a lot about cricket at the top level. One of his flying saves at the boundary line became a sought after video from IPL 10!

He went to England after that with the under-19 team and did well by being one of the highest wicket takers on the tour. But that was not enough for him to earn a ticket to New Zealand for the U-19 World Cup. He was kept as a standby for the multi-nation tournament. To add to his misery, he missed most of the domestic season in 2017-18 owing to injuries.

Chahar’s career though turned for the better when he was picked by Mumbai Indians in the 2019 IPL auctions. He gave MI three very good seasons in the IPL, as they won the title twice in that period and were losing finalists on the other occasion. Chahar picked up 13, 15 and 13 wickets respectively - proving to be a very good middle overs enforcer for the franchise.

Rahul Chahar’s IPL exploits translated into a national call-up as well, and he made his debut against West Indies in 2019 and has played a handful for games for India since then. Chahar was also part of the Indian squad for the 2021 T20I World Cup, but barely got any game time. His Indian career has stalled a bit ever since, in the wake of more competition in the leg spin department, but Chahar is still in his early twenties and could mount a comeback.

Rahul Chahar was let go by Mumbai Indians ahead of the 2022 mega auctions, and he was snapped up by Punjab Kings for whom he played all but one game in that season.