Yet to join team, Deepak Chahar to miss opening game, remains doubtful for series

Deepak Chahar (Pic: AFP)

Senior seamer Deepak Chahar is not in contention to be selected in the playing eleven for the SA vs IND 1st T20I in Durban on Sunday as he is yet to join the squad due to personal reasons.

It is understood that Chahar is currently at home as a close family member has not been keeping well and he urgently needed a break from the sport.

Chahar, in fact, missed out on the fifth and final T20 International against Australia in Bengaluru, last Sunday, as he had to rush back home after being intimated about a family member's illness.

"Deepak hasn't yet joined the team in Durban as a close family member needed urgent hospitalisation. He had taken permission for a break as he needed to attend to his family member. He may or may not join the squad depending on his family member's health in coming days," a senior BCCI official told PTI on condition of anonymity.

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The BCCI brass understands that Chahar might not be in the best frame of mind till the family member in question fully recovers and hence if he doesn't wish to join the team now, he would be excused.

The 31-year-old Rajasthan veteran boasts best figures of 6/7 in T20 an International and his prolonged absence due to injury did affect the T20 squad's balance in the past two years.

However, the other two members of the T20 squad, Shubman Gill and vice-captain Ravindra Jadeja, who were holidaying abroad after the World Cup final have directly linked up with the squad in Durban and have attended practice sessions.

SA vs IND 1st T20I: Full squads

India: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee (1st and 2ndT20Is), Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen (1st and 2nd T20Is), Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, and Lizaad Williams.

(With agency inputs)