Rahul Chahar

A talented wrist-spinner, Rahul Chahar likes it gives his leg-break, unlike the modern leg-spinners who rely more on the googly. Rahul took to the game after being guided by his cousin Deepak Chahar and uncle. 

Rahul did extremely well in age-group cricket before making his first-class debut against Odisha in 2016. Apart from playing three matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, it was a quiet season with him grabbing more headlines for performances in U-19 cricket. The leg-spinner took a combined 16 wickets in seven matches against England U-19 that year. This was especially impressive as ten of those wickets came in just four matches in England. 

Chahar missed most of the 2017-18 season and was also surprisingly left out from the India squad for the U-19 World Cup in New Zealand. Another leg-spinner in Pankaj Yadav was preferred as India went onto lift the title in a dominant manner. Rahul didn’t give up after that and made a strong comeback in the 2018-19 domestic season. After taking 41 wickets in ten Ranji Trophy matches, Rahul led Rajasthan’s bowling charts with 20 scalps in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. 

These performances helped him to get a spot in the India A for the matches against England Lions. He has been part of India A team matches after that too and has picked up 17 wickets in 11 games over the last couple of years. 

In the IPL, Rahul first represented Rising Pune Supergiants in the 2017 IPL season before snaffled by Mumbai Indians in the 2018 IPL season. He had to sit out the 2018 season due to Mayank Markande’s impressive performances before playing a key role in the franchise winning their 4th title. He picked up 13 wickets from 13 matches at a fantastic economy rate of 6.55 in the season. In the final two, he did well to concede just 14 runs and take one wicket in four overs. This performance even earned him a call-up for India’s tour of the West Indies where he featured in a T20I at the Providence Stadium. 

Rahul continued his good work in the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy with 14 scalps from eight matches before covid-19 brought cricket to a standstill. At just 21 years old, Rahul has the feet at his world. He will hope to become a key part of both of the Mumbai Indians and the Indian national team over the next few years.