IND vs SA: Deepak Chahar to Miss 1st T20I, Remains Doubtful for Series - Report

Deepak Chahar is expected to miss the three-match T20I series against South Africa as he has not joined the Indian team yet. Chahar is currently in India and has not travelled to South Africa due to personal reasons. The seamer also missed the fifth T20I against Australia, according to a report in PTI, he is currently at home as a close family member has not been keeping well and he urgently needed a break from the sport.

Chahar is not in contention to get picked in the series opener on Sunday against South Africa.

Earlier, Chahar left the Indian team before the fifth T20I as he had to rush back home after being intimated about a family member’s illness.

“Deepak hasn’t yet joined the team in Durban as a close family member needed urgent hospitalisation. He had taken permission for a break as he needed to attend to his family member. He may or may not join the squad depending on his family member’s health in coming days,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The BCCI brass understands that Chahar might not be in the best frame of mind till the family member in question fully recovers and hence if he doesn’t wish to join the team now, he would be excused.

The 31-year-old Rajasthan seamer boasts best figures of 6/7 in T20 International and his prolonged absence due to injury did affect the T20 squad’s balance in the past two years.

However, the other two members of the T20 squad, Shubman Gill and vice-captain Ravindra Jadeja, who were holidaying abroad after the World Cup final have directly linked up with the squad in Durban and have attended practice sessions.

India’s T20I Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.

South Africa’s T20I Squad: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee (1st and 2ndT20Is), Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen (1st and 2nd T20Is), Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, and Lizaad Williams.

(With PTI Inputs)