A challenging phase on personal front behind him, which sidelined him for a few assignments, India seamer Deepak Chahar is ready for a comeback and has set his sights on the T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by the United States and West Indies later this year.
Chahar had to miss India’s tour of South Africa in December followed by the home T20Is against Afghanistan after his father suffered a brain stroke, from which he has recovered now.
“For me, my father comes first. I am here only because of him. Whatever I have achieved is because of my father. If I am not there for him in those situations, then obviously, what kind of son I am?,” Chahar told PTI in an exclusive interview.
“If the series was in India, then I would have surely tried to play. You can come to the hospital if you need within 4-5 hours. But obviously, (from) South Africa it takes 2-3 days to come back.
“It was an easy decision to be with my father — any son would do that,” he added.
Chahar said while he did not get a lot of time to train apart from doing fitness-related work, he went to the NCA to work on his readiness as he eyes a spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad.
“I was with my father in the hospital for 25 days. He was not in Agra. He was admitted in Aligarh.
We all had to stay there,” he said.
\“I was only able to do some exercises. I was not able to do any cricketing activities. That’s why I was not ready for the Afghanistan series. I had not practised for a month or so.