IPL 2019: Shane Warne is my Idol, Says Rahul Chahar

Mumbai Indians leg-spinner Rahul Chahar expresses gratitude for Shane Warne, calls the legendary cricketer his 'Idol'.

Mumbai Indians (MI) leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, who had a very good outing against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the match which his team won at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday night, regards legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne as his idol. It was the Mumbai bowlers, who came with a very good performance on a slow wicket to wrap up the home side, who were chasing a modest 156-run target, on a paltry 109 runs.

Lasith Malinga was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors with figures of 4/37, while Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya bagged a couple of wickets each. Besides, Chahar also bowled a wicketless yet very economical spell of 4-0-21-0 and contributed to his side’s win. The leggie has so far picked 10 wickets in the eight matches he has played for the Mumbai-based franchise. “My idol is Shane Warne. When I was eight years old, my coach used to bring DVDs of Warne and made me watch them. After watching those videos, I started bowling like him,” said Chahar when asked about his role model at the post-match press conference.

Chahar is a yard or two quicker in the air than Warne. When asked about this pace difference, Chahar said that his coach asked him to bowl a little quicker as this would help him to get more wickets. After Friday’s win, MI have moved to the second spot in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). They need to win one of their remaining three matches to confirm their berth in the playoffs.

“It was an important match for us and this win boosted our confidence by leaps and bounds. It was important for us to get wickets of their inform batsman. So, it was crucial that we got Shane Watson out in the very first over,” said the 19-year-old leggie. He also said it was good for them that they lost the toss as they would have wanted to chase. “We didn’t think much about the toss. We thought that chasing would be much easier as the wicket will stay the same throughout the match. However, it was lucky that we lost the toss as the wicket turned a lot slower in the second innings.”