India pacer Deepak Chahar, who plies his trade with the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL), is one of the few players among the current generation who have played under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Speaking about the differences among them, Chahar said, “Virat is very aggressive and when you see him on the field, you automatically get energetic. He leads from the front, be it with his batting or on the field. When you see him giving his 110 per cent, you automatically give your 100 per cent. In Rohit’s case, he remains very calm and composed and shows you that he trusts you. So when the captain remains calm and backs you, you also start excelling as you feel that confidence rubbing off on you.”
“As for Mahi bhai, we all know how cool he is. His cricketing knowledge is unbelievable. Having captained for so long, he can pre-empt what is going to happen and how one should react to a situation. Also, he knows how to use his players and I feel that is the biggest skill of a captain. If you can bring the best out of your player knowing his area of strength, then nothing beats that. And Mahi bhai can do that and that is why he has achieved what he has. He just knows how to get the best out of you,” the 27-year-old said as quoted by IANS.
Chahar also said that the IPL could be the perfect start for the cricketers after spending more than three months inside the home due to the nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We will need to slowly get back into the system and I believe that IPL could be the perfect vehicle for us to return to cricketing action. It helps that we have a lot of games and that gets you into the rhythm. If you make a player play an ODI or Test immediately after the break, the body might break down due to the load. Like when you hit the gym, you don’t do a 100kg bench press to start with,” the 27-year-old said.
“Similarly, playing the IPL will help not just the bowlers, but all cricketers as the level of competition you get here is top-class. But we do need a proper camp before the IPL starts so that we can get back into the groove after this phase away from the game,” he smiled.