IND vs WI | IPL is the easiest route to play for India, reveals Deepak Chahar

Deepak Chahar has definitely benefited from his IPL career with the Chennai Super Kings so far as he has been recognized as one of India's pace bowling options in white-ball cricket. He impressed with his ability to swing the ball both ways and with Bhuvaneshwar Kumar's decline in form, Chahar has begun to get chances consistently for India in the shorter formats. Even after having figures of 8-10 on his Ranji Trophy debut, it was his lack of pace that made him realize that he would become a more effective white-ball bowler and IPL would increase his chances to play for India.

"When I changed my action to gain speed, I struggled with my state team. Now suddenly, I found that my road towards entering the Indian team to be very difficult. If I had to take the Ranji route, then I would have had to play more matches, play a whole first-class season, play Duleep Trophy. That's a long road," Chahar told ESPNCricinfo ahead of India's second ODI against the West Indies.

"But if you do well in IPL, then you can quickly play for India and during that phase of my career, I decided to concentrate on white-ball cricket," he further added.

Chahar feels that although he knows that one of his limitations is that he cannot bowl express pace, his ability to swing the ball with control is something that he will never compromise on. He firmly believes that the ability to swing the ball at a slower pace is much more effective than to bowl absolute darts at high speeds.

"When I came to the Ranji Trophy, I used to bowl 125 kmph. My struggle with injuries was due to my efforts to increase the pace. Because I knew that I won't be able to survive with that kind of pace at the international level. I had to increase it close to 140 clicks and get it to swing," Chahar asserted.

"A swinging delivery at 135 to 137 kmph is the most difficult delivery for any batsman. I can vouch that even 150 km on a flat track can be easier to handle," he further mentioned.

Chahar has so far been impressive and is looking to add more variations in his bag as the game will keep on evolving and for him to be successful he believes that he too needs to keep on evolving. He has developed the art of bowling the knuckleball, the slower bouncer as well as the yorker where conditions are not favourable for swing bowling.

"Before the 2019 IPL, I prepared a lot by bowling on Chennai track. Since I bowl three overs in Powerplay for CSK, and if you don't have a yorker at the Chepauk, where the ball doesn't swing, it will be difficult. But I can get even better," he concluded.