Rahul Chahar made his VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) debut in 2017, with Rising Pune Supergiant, the team we beat in the final to lift our third trophy. The leg-spinner played three matches for the team and showed a lot of promise. After doing well across formats in 2017, we picked the talented bowler in the VIVO IPL auction on 28th January. We caught up with Chahar and found out what was going on in his mind when he found out about playing for Mumbai Indians this year.

Chahar has always been in awe of Mumbai Indians, and is happy to have one of his dreams fulfilled this year by becoming a part of our family. “I believe Mumbai Indians is the biggest team of the IPL. It used to by my dream team when I didn’t play in the IPL. If you do well in this team, your chances of coming into the limelight is high. The biggest thing about this team is that they treat their players like a family. No other team does that. If you do well for them, the management will try their best to retain you. Obviously, very happy to be a part of my dream team. Let’s hope that I can perform well here.

Rahul Chahar is leaving no stone unturned as a little over a month remains for the eleventh edition of the VIVO IPL to begin. He is getting as much match practice as he can before the team gets together a few days before the season. “I am focusing more on playing T20 matches. There is a tournament in DY Patil, then I’m going to Goa to play a T20 tournament. After these tournaments, I’ll be practising specifically for T20s.”

In his one-season stint with RPS, Chahar didn’t let go of any opportunity to learn from some of the big names in their squad. “Last year, I learnt a few nuances from Imran Tahir, he is a leg-spin legend and I spent quality time with him. I learnt a lot from Dhoni bhai too. I believe that the main attribute is confidence. I’d like to bowl well and confidently against the big-hitters.”

At MI, Chahar will interact and play alongside many big names, and he can’t wait for the training sessions to get underway, and learn some more from our big boys. “I am eagerly looking forward to learn a lot with Rohit Sharma. He is a legend, I’ll try and learn from him, whatever I can. Hardik Pandya, who is currently a star, has been doing extremely well for the Indian team. I’ll try and be confident like him. I’ll try and work on my fitness too.”

There are some batsmen in our squad, Chahar is happy to have on his side, and not bowl to them during a match. “I am glad that I won’t have to bowl to Rohit and Lewis. Lewis is a dangerous batsman. Looking forward to bowl to him in the nets.” He can surely sharpen his skills by trying to outfox these two dangerous hitters during practice sessions. It will only help the young leggie.

Chahar knows that it is going to be challenging bowling to Pollard in the nets, but he is not going too far ahead of himself in the planning, and decides to take it as it comes. “I am not thinking too much about bowling to him right now. Last year, I thought a lot when I had to bowl against the likes of Dhoni, Faf du Plessi, etc in the nets. This year, I’m not thinking much. When I play against him in the nets on the first day and get hit for a few runs, then I will think about how to counter him.”

Chahar is aware of the fact that the fans’ support is of utmost importance to a player and the team. He is looking forward to gaining all the support from the large Paltan. “I would just like to say one thing that the fans should support me because a fan only takes the player forward. Fan support is very valuable and important for the growth of a player. If I don’t play well for one match too, I hope that the fans won’t stop supporting me that is my humble request.” Chahar comes with the innocence of a young player, and his talent will be out there on display during this season in the MI blue. Chahar is the only leg-spinner in the squad, and expectations on him will be quite high, considering how his breed has a history of putting in good performances in the VIVO IPL.