India pacer Deepak Chahar was signed by Mumbai Indians for a whopping Rs 9.25 crore after an intense bidding war at the IPL 2025 mega auction. It ended his long association with Chennai Super Kings and MS Dhoni in the cash-rich league.
Interestingly, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) managed to buy back many of their old players in the mega auction of IPL 2025. However, the five time champions were not able to buy back Deepak Chahar due to the high price at the auction.
During the IPL 2025 mega auction, Mumbai Indians went into a bidding war with Punjab Kings for Chahar, who entered the auction with a base price of Rs 2 crore.
The Punjab Kings backed out of the bid at ₹7.75 crore. Thereafter, Chennai Super Kings came forth to retain their player at ₹8 crore but Mumbai Indians ovecame CSK's offer. MI bumped up the price to ₹9.25 crore, which made CSK opt out of keeping Chahar.
Soon after getting picked by Mumbai Indians, Chahar had an interaction on Jio Cinema, the live streaming and Suresh Raina, his former teammate at CSK asked a cheeky question to the pacer.
Raina jokingly asked Deepak: "Dhoni bhai ko miss toh karoge (will you miss Dhoni)?"
Chahar, who shares an emotional bond with Dhoni gave an obvious answer. "Unko kaun nahi miss karega (who won’t miss him)," the pacer said.
Deepak Chahar doesn't even look happy. He even said he wanted to be retained by CSK.#RCBAuction #IPLauctions2025 Unsold Bhuvi pic.twitter.com/BKByJVHGJ9
— Mahi (@Cute__maahi) November 25, 2024
The 32-year-old pacer, who has struggled with injuries in the past, also spoke about his fitness and training.
"After the last IPL season, I went to the UK for training. I was training with a big football club there. Then, I came back and played five Ranji Trophy matches, bowling about 150 overs. Now, I'm playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. So, I've been playing cricket regularly since the past six months, and I've been training well," he said.
"My main goal is to play for India again, so I need to play all the 14 matches, play at my full potential, and then hopefully I can make a comeback for team India. This is going to be a very important season for me," he added.
Sharing his thoughts on Mumbai Indians, Chahar said that he is happy to be a part of this franchise and hoping to win more trophies in the coming seasons.
"The MI team for this season looks strong. They have always been a dominating side in the history of IPL, and they've won 5 seasons for obvious reasons. I'm happy to be a part of this team and hoping to win more trophies in the coming seasons. Also, I'm hoping to get the opportunity to bat as well, because that is something I didn't get much to do at CSK. So, I'll definitely look to give my best with bat and ball," he said.
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