Deepak Chahar grabbed headlines as he became the second most expensive player on day one of the Indian Premier League 2022 auction in Bengaluru on Saturday. The fast bowling all-rounder was retained for Rs 14 crore by Chennai Super Kings.

Chahar, who has played seven One-Day Internationals and 17 T20Is for India, made his IPL debut in 2018 and has been with the franchise ever since. The 29-year-old has played 63 games for the men in yellow and picked up 59 wickets.

Playing under former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at CSK, Chahar has often bowled bulk of his powers in the powerplay. The right-arm pacer is known to swing the ball both ways and that helps him be a major threat with the new ball.

Speaking to Star Sports after his massive auction bid on Saturday, Chahar said he couldn’t be happier after being retained by the Super Kings, who won the IPL title for the fourth time in 2021.

“I’m really happy to be back at CSK,” said Chahar.

“I don’t think there will be any difference because when I go back I’ll see the same faces which I’ve been seeing for the past four years... or maybe six years because when I was with the Pune side half of the players were there as well. So I’m really happy to be back at CSK, I couldn’t have asked for a better auction than this.”

Asked if he was hoping to be retained by Chennai, Chahar said he knew the franchise would go for him at the auction.

“I’ve never spoken about the auction with Mahi bhai or the CSK management. I had met Srinivasan sir in 2018 and he had told me that I’ll always play in yellow. I took his word that day and after that I’ve never spoken about retention or anything. I knew CSK will pick me,” he said.

Chahar said he was in transit when his name came up at the auction. He went on to make an interesting comment about how he wished CSK had saved money on his bid to buy more players.

“We were travelling from Ahmedabad to Kolkata in a bus and the entire team was watching the auction. Everyone was asking about the amounts. I was hoping the amount wouldn’t increase too much because CSK could’ve back out then, and I would be very sad. I haven’t imagined myself playing in any colour other than yellow. At one point I was thinking the bid amount for me is too much. As a CSK player, I also want us to build a good team. So after a point I was thinking the bidding should stop, I should go to CSK, and we should them buy some other players.”

— Deepak Chahar to Star Sports

Chahar added: “We almost have all the players we had since the past four years. We have a balanced side with good all-rounders and spinners. Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali make a difference when we talk about all-rounders. They can bat up the order and bowl. We have fast bowlers and middle order batters too.”

The right-arm pacer is also a confident batter and has made some useful contributions lower down the order for the Indian team over the past year.

“I’ve been trying to be an all-rounder since I started playing when I was 12. So I’ve played a lot of cricket where I batted up the order,” said Chahar.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t got many opportunities to bat in the IPL or for the Indian team. But whenever I have, I’ve tried to score runs and win matches for my team. I’ve been lucky to get some opportunities in recent times, I got runs in Sri Lanka and then batted in South Africa too.”

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