File photo of Deepak Chahar© BCCI/Sportzpics
India pacer Deepak Chahar couldn’t be a part of the team for the tour of South Africa after a personal emergency struck him. Chahar’s father was hospitalised, prompting the seamer to give his cricketing duty a miss. While playing for the country if a proud feeling for every athlete, Chahar said giving the South Africa series a miss was an easy decision for him as his father’s health comes first. In those testing times, Deepak made sure he was with his father.
Chahar was named in the Indian squad for the T20I and ODI series against South Africa but he had to stay in India.
“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.
“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,” Chahar added.
Chahar said that he wasn’t ready for the Afghanistan series due to lack of practice but has started to prepare for future assignments, having joined the National Cricket Academy to fast-track his return.
“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. 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,” said Chahar.
“After that I went to the NCA. I started my practice again and now I am fully fit. Everything is good. I trained really hard for the IPL and the World Cup,” Chahar added.
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