IPL 2021: Rahul Chahar reveals how Rohit Sharma boosted his confidence during the match against KKR

IPL 2021: Rahul Chahar reveals how Rohit Sharma boosted his confidence during the match against KKR

Rahul Chahar celebrating the wicket of Nitish Rana

The Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) witnessed one of the greatest turnarounds of all time. Batting first, MI posted a paltry total of 152 runs on the board.

On the other hand, KKR were cruising at one stage with 72-0 after 8.4 overs before suffering a collapse. In the end, Knight Riders lost the match by 10 runs to face one of the unluckiest defeats of the tournament. MI spinner Rahul Chahar played the most crucial role in his side’s comeback as he claimed four wickets. The leggie also won the ‘Man of the Match’ award for his brilliant efforts during the game.

Chahar mentioned that Rohit Sharma didn’t say much and asked him to bowl with full confidence. He said that the MI skipper asked him to focus on turning the ball.  

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“He (Rohit Sharma) didn’t say much. He always tells me that bowl with full confidence as you are a very good bowler. He tells me that he sometimes struggles to pick some balls when he bats against me in the nets.

“He asked to keep the focus and try to turn the ball. I knew that in this match if someone had to turn things around then, it had to be a spinner. I had the confidence in myself,” Chahar was quoted as saying after the match.

Rahul Chahar on close-in fielders against KKR batsmen

Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma kept an attacking field placement during the entire second innings. Chahar said that placing close-in fielders gives a psychological upper hand to the bowling side and shows their attacking nature.

“Yes, we get a psychological upper hand. (Rohit Sharma employed a slip and close-in fielder to Andre Russell). Even when I was bowling to Rahul Tripathi, we had 2 covers and a slip. Even for Eoin Morgan, we had a slip and a leg slip. It shows we are attacking and confident,” he added.

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