HARARE: A six month injury lay-off can take its toll mentally but Deepak Chahar, after a successful return to international cricket, feels he has picked up from where he had left when he sustained a career-threatening hamstring injury.
The Rajasthan seamer, who got the 'Player of The Match' award with figures of 3/27 against Zimbabwe on his comeback, feels that he had done a lot of work skill wise to match that level of performance during the pre-injury period.
Asked if he feels his T20 World Cup doors would open up, Chahar said: "I can't say if I will be selected or not as that's not in my hands but skill wise I have worked very hard.
"I think I have picked up from where I had left and today also barring the first two overs, I bowled well. I bowled seven overs at one go which is an indicator that my fitness levels are okay," Chahar told reporters after the game.
Having found his mojo back and also getting the ball to swing both ways appreciably in the morning session, Chahar revealed that the plan was to bowl fuller length deliveries.
"My plan remains simple, when the ball is swinging try to bowl fuller length and take wickets. If the ball isn't swinging, then there is a plan 'B' or 'C'. Today, it was swinging till the seventh over when I was bowling. So it was simple -- bowl a fuller length and mix the swing and confuse the batter," he said.
For Chahar, the Harare Sports Club pitch's USP is a bit of nip in the air and off the track in the morning session.
1/8:A commanding 10-wicket win
<p>Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill struck fluent unbeaten half-centuries as India raced to a crushing 10-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in their first ODI at the Harare Sports Grounds. (AP photo)</p>
2/8:Unbeaten opening stand takes India home
<p>Set a target of 190 to win, the visitors got there without the loss of a wicket in 30.5 overs as Dhawan scored 81 from 113 balls and Gill a more brutal 82 from 72 deliveries. (Photo credit: BCCI Twitter)</p>
3/8:Zimbabwe bowlers toil in vain
<p>Zimbabwe used eight bowlers in their attempt to restrict their opponents, but there was no reward against the India openers. (AFP photo)</p>
4/8:Batting order collapse for the hosts
<p>India had elected to bowl first and were quickly into the wickets as they reduced the home side to 66 for five. (AFP photo)</p>
5/8:Deepak shines on return
<p>Seamer Deepak Chahar removed both openers and finished with figures of 3-27, well supported by the more expensive Prasidh Krishna, who took 3-50 in eight overs. (AP photo)</p>
6/8:Axar on target
<p>The guile of left-arm spinner Axar Patel (3-24) was also impressive as he removed innings top-scorer Regis Chakabva (35). (AP photo)</p>
7/8:The face-saving Evans, Ngarava stand
<p>A 70-run ninth-wicket stand between Brad Evans (33 not out) and Richard Ngarava (34) added some respectability to the home score, but it never looked like a target to trouble India. (ANI photo)</p>
8/8:India go 1-0 up
<p>The second ODI will be played on Saturday and the third on Monday, both also in Harare. (ANI photo)</p>"There isn't any turn on offer or anything for fast bowlers in particular. The only help you get is in that morning session and if you play that session well, then obviously the game goes well.
"But if you lose 4-5 early wickets, then no team can win a match from there. I felt Zimbabwe after losing five wickets for 50 odd (66), scoring 190 was a good effort."
Building up Workload
While he is known as a T20 specialist, Chahar said once his rehab at the NCA was nearing completion, he knew that ODIs in Zimbabwe would be his comeback vehicle and he prepared his body accordingly to suit the rigours of 50-over format.
"I knew I would make my comeback in this series, which is an ODI series, so I started loading my body accordingly. The day I started bowling, I bowled six overs and then when I played 2-3 practice games, I bowled a full quota of 10 overs," Chahar informed.
Talking about the day's performance, he did agree that there is bound to be circumspection when one comes back after such a long time and people, who played in the interim, also performed.
"Difficulty was there. Because you are trying to regain your place in the side and in the interim, people who played have also performed and consolidated their places.
"So in order to regain your spot, you have to put up a good performance. Obviously pressure was there and I wanted to perform at the first opportunity because that's all that a player can control," he signed off.
