Three players who will be on Chennai's radar as Deepak Chahar's replacement

Chennai's bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar is set to miss out on the 15th season of the Indian T20 League. Chahar is currently battling with a quadricep injury, which he picked during the third T20I against the West Indies. He missed out on the T20I series against Sri Lanka last month. This could be a big blow to Chennai as they are relying on his services for the upcoming season.

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The franchise is currently waiting on the assessment of the National Cricket Academy (NCA). It is believed that the Agra-born player might miss out as the injury takes a lot of time to heal. If that happens, the franchise has to name a replacement as the cash-rich league will start from March 26. Notably, they can only name Indian players as a replacement having filled up the eight overseas slots already.

In this listicle, we will discuss three names who can replace the swing bowler for the upcoming season.

Three players who can replace Chahar

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Dhawal Kulkarni 

The Mumbai-born fast-medium bowler has played the league since its inception till last year. Last month, during the mega auction, he went unsold for the first time in 14 years. From 2008 to 2013, he played for Mumbai and was part of the 2013 title-winning team. In 2014, he was signed by 2008 winners Rajasthan and kept playing for the team till its suspension in 2015.

For seasons 2016 and 2017, the right-arm swing bowler played for now-defunct Gujarat. The 33-year-old joined the Rajasthan team again in 2018 and played till 2019. In 2020, he returned to Mumbai and kept playing till last year. Talking about his bowling, the former India player has 86 scalps to his name in 92 games averaging 28.76 and an economy of 8.30. He can be a good replacement for Chennai as he can bat well down the order if needed.

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Ishant Sharma 

The 105-Test veteran has played for various teams since 2008. In the first three seasons, he played for Kolkata. In 2011, he was signed by Hyderabad and kept playing for them till 2015. In 2016, he was signed by now-defunct Pune and moved to Punjab in the following year. After going unsold in 2018, he was signed by Delhi in the following year and was part of the team till 2020.

This year, he went unsold but might get an opportunity to play for Chennai. During his stint with Delhi, he used to bowl his quota upfront as he was not a skilful death overs bowler. Chahar had the same role in the Chennai setup. Talking about Sharma's ITL numbers, the right-arm pacer has 76 wickets to his name in 93 games, averaging 37.02and an economy of 8.09.

3. Arzan Nagwaswalla

The left-arm medium-pacer from Gujarat can also be a good replacement for the Yellow Brigade. He has a good record in terms of wickets and economy in domestic cricket, which earned him as a place in the Indian team as a standby player during the England tour. Chennai loves to invest in youngsters and Nagwaswalla could be in their sight.