India vs Sri Lanka 2021: When Deepak Chahar was rejected by Greg Chappell for THIS bizarre reason

Team India paceman Deepak Chahar was the hero with the bat in the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Tuesday (July 20), sealing an unlikely come-from-behind three-wicket win in Colombo. Chahar was the man-of-the-match for his heroics with bat, scoring an unbeaten 69 off 82 balls to help his side recover from 193/7 and chase down 275 to win. But the Chennai Super Kings paceman didn’t have the smoothest of starts in domestic cricket.

Former India paceman and Team India bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad revealed how former India coach Greg Chappell had rejected Chahar when he first turned up at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy in Jaipur. Prasad revealed that Chahar was not selected due to his tall height and was asked to look for another profession.

“Deepak Chahar Was rejected by Greg Chappell at RCA for his height and told to look at a different occupation. And he single-handedly won a match with not even his primary skills. Moral of the story – Believe in yourself and don’t take overseas coaches too seriously,” Prasad tweeted.

Deepak Chahar Was rejected by Greg Chappell at RCA for his height and told to look at a different occupation.
And he single handedly won a match with not even his primary skills.
Moral of the story- Believe in yourself and don't take overseas coaches too seriously. pic.twitter.com/cByzg9uorj — Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) July 21, 2021

“There are off-course exceptions but with such wonderful talent in India, it’s time that teams and franchisees consider having Indian coaches and mentors as much as possible,” he further tweeted.

With India reeling at 193/7, Chahar scored stitched an unbeaten 84-run partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar to guide India home in a successful chase of 276.

“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 (when Dravid was coach) and I think he has belief in me. He told me he thinks I’m good enough to be a No. 7 (but he batted at 8). He has belief in me. Hopefully in the coming matches I don’t have to bat. When we came under 50 that’s when I believed we can win. Before that it was ball by ball. I took some risks after,” said Chahar at the post match presentation.