Deepak Chahar IPL career arc: the Agra pace-bowling allrounder, his 76-match CSK run, and what the 9.25 crore Mumbai Indians move says about his IPL trajectory
A retrospective on Deepak Lokandersingh Chahar's IPL career as of the 17 June 2026 ESPNcricinfo profile snapshot. Six IPL titles contested with Chennai Super Kings, three won in 2018, 2021 and 2023, 76 wickets in 76 matches at an economy of 7.91, a 22-wicket Purple Cap chase in 2019, a 14 crore buyback that ended in a back-injury wipeout in 2022, and a 9.25 crore move to Mumbai Indians at the 2024 mega auction.
A right-arm medium pacer from Agra, with a batting tail to match
Deepak Lokandersingh Chahar was born on 7 August 1992 in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The ESPNcricinfo profile lists him as a right-hand bat and a right-arm medium bowler, with the playing role recorded simply as Bowler. Cousin Rahul Chahar, often tagged as RD Chahar, is also a professional cricketer.
The skill set is the right-arm medium template, but the Chahar profile carries two tags the medium-pacer template does not. The first is batting depth: in July 2021, batting at No. 8 in an ODI in Colombo, he steered an India chase with an unbeaten 69, an innings that sits outside the bowler template and inside the lower-order allrounder template fantasy readers project against. The second is the powerplay new-ball role at Chennai Super Kings, where his swing in the first six overs made him the bowler MS Dhoni used to set up the powerplay rather than the bowler he used to close out the death.
Agra is not the standard IPL fast-bowling geography. The Chahar family's cricket line runs through the Rajasthan Royals setup: his first-class debut for Rajasthan in 2010-11 was the 8 for 10 against Hyderabad, with Hyderabad bowled out for 21, a debut spell that still sits at the top of the Rajasthan first-class bowling ledger for that match. The Royals, the franchise he later returned to in his career list, are the first name on the senior-team line. Rising Pune Supergiant, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Bikaner Desert Challengers are the T20 franchise stops. India, India A and the Indian Board President's XI are the representative-team stops.
The international line is the one that frames the fantasy read. Chahar held the record for the best T20I bowling figures at the time of the 2019 spell in Delhi: 6 for 7 against Bangladesh, a spell that included a hat-trick with the wet old ball in dewy conditions. The figures and the conditions are both relevant to the IPL read. The figures rank him among the highest-ever T20I wicket-takers in a single innings, and the dewy conditions are a recurring IPL powerplay variable in venues such as Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata and Mumbai.
Seven years at Chennai Super Kings, three titles, and a 76-match stat line that ended at 7.91
Chahar's CSK career ran from 2018 to 2024. Across those seven seasons he played 76 matches, took 76 wickets, and finished with an economy of 7.91. The wicket-per-match average of 1.0 is the headline career-line number, and it places him fourth on CSK's all-time wicket-takers list at the time of his release.
The 2019 Purple Cap chase, and the 3 for 26 in the final
The 2019 IPL season is the Chahar career-peak line. He took 22 wickets in 17 matches, finished third on the Purple Cap list, and closed the season with 3 for 26 in the final. The final figures are the cleanest read of the new-ball skill: against a Mumbai Indians batting line that included Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, he finished as the most economical CSK bowler on the night.
The 2018 and 2021 title wins sit either side of the 2019 line. The 2018 title was Chahar's first CSK season after the move from Rising Pune Supergiant, and the 2021 title was the return-to-form season after the 2020 CSK playoff miss. The 2023 title, against the Gujarat Titans in the final in Ahmedabad, is the third title on the line. Across the six title-contest seasons (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) Chahar played in three of the three CSK titles won in that window, and missed the 2022 season entirely through injury.
The 2022 back injury is the line that reset the auction math. CSK had bought him back at the 2022 mega auction for INR 14 crore, the second-most expensive buy of the auction. He missed the entire 2022 season, played 15 matches across 2023 and 2024, and was released by the franchise at the end of IPL 2024. The release was not a form call: he had taken wickets across the 2023 title run and the 2024 league stage. The release was a purse call ahead of the 2024 mega auction, where the franchise had to clear space for the marquee buys.
Two seasons at Rising Pune Supergiant, the 2016 debut, and the move to CSK ahead of 2018
The IPL career started at Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016. Chahar played two seasons for the franchise (2016 and 2017) before Chennai Super Kings bought him ahead of the 2018 season. The 2018 move was the start of the seven-year CSK run, the three title wins, and the 76-match stat line.
The Rising Pune Supergiant window is the small-sample cell on the career record. RPSG existed for two IPL seasons (2016 and 2017) as the replacement franchise for the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, and the squad that season included several players who would later become long-term CSK and India names. Chahar's role in the RPSG squad was the powerplay new-ball role he would later own at CSK, and the move to CSK ahead of 2018 was the natural continuation of that role under Dhoni.
The pre-IPL career sits in the Rajasthan Royals setup and the India A line. The 8 for 10 first-class debut for Rajasthan in 2010-11 against Hyderabad is the headline number, and it sits in the career record as the spell that put him on the national selectors' radar. The India A line and the Indian Board President's XI line carried the domestic form into the IPL auction pool, and the 2016 RPSG buy was the entry point. The 2018 CSK buy was the consolidation, and the 2019 Purple Cap chase was the franchise-level confirmation.
The franchise line for the ESPNcricinfo profile reads: India, India A, Indian Board President's XI, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Rising Pune Supergiant, and Bikaner Desert Challengers. Seven franchise names, four of them in the T20 league list (CSK, RR, RPSG, Mumbai Indians from 2025) and three in the representative-team list. The Bikaner Desert Challengers line is the short-format domestic line from the Rajasthan Cricket Association calendar. The Mumbai Indians line is the current cell on the career record.
CSK released him at the end of IPL 2024. Mumbai Indians bought him for INR 9.25 crore at the 2024 mega auction.
CSK released Chahar at the end of the 2024 season, sitting fourth on their all-time wicket-takers list with 76 wickets in 76 matches at an economy of 7.91. Mumbai Indians bought him at the 2024 mega auction for INR 9.25 crore. The move is the cell that resets the auction math and the franchise cell, and it is the cell that the IPL Fantasy 2026 player profiles for 2026 project against.
What 9.25 crore buys from a 33-year-old seam-bowling allrounder
The 9.25 crore outlay is the cell that defines the projection cell. MI's bid was below CSK's 14 crore buyback in 2022 and above the typical mid-card seam-bowling buy at the 2024 auction. The cell is a powerplay-bowling cell, not a death-overs cell. The Chahar skill set at the powerplay (swing with the new ball, dot-ball percentage in the first six overs) is the cell that survives the age curve, and the cell that an IPL 2026 fantasy projection should weight heavier than the death-overs cell where the age curve bites harder.
The CSK release was the natural end of a 76-match run, not a form call. The 76 wickets in 76 matches at 7.91 is the same wicket-per-match ratio (1.0) that the franchise line had recorded across the seven-year window, and the release was the consequence of the 2024 mega auction purse rules and the CSK retention list. CSK's retention list for the 2024 mega auction had to absorb the marquee buys (Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube) and the franchise chose to release Chahar into the auction pool rather than use a retention card on him.
The age curve for a 33-year-old right-arm medium pacer is the cell that frames the projection debate. The CSK line at 7.91 across 76 matches is the career-baseline figure. The 2025 and 2026 MI numbers will sit either above or below that line, and the projection cell for the 2026 season has to weight the new-ball skill and the dewy-conditions advantage against the age-curve regression. The other cell to weight is the batting cell: the unbeaten 69 at No. 8 in the 2021 Colombo ODI is the career-best batting line, and the cell that an MI batting order with finishers at 5, 6 and 7 might tap in the same match windows.
6 for 7 against Bangladesh, the dewy-ball hat-trick, and the conditions variable
Chahar held the record for the best T20I bowling figures at the time with 6 for 7 against Bangladesh in 2019, a spell that included a hat-trick with the wet old ball in dewy conditions. The figures and the conditions are the two cells that the IPL 2026 player projections carry into the matchup math.
The 6 for 7 was a T20I record at the time and remains one of the highest-wicket hauls in a T20I innings. The hat-trick inside the spell came with the wet old ball, and the dewy conditions are the cell that maps directly to the IPL powerplay at venues such as Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata and the second innings of Mumbai evening matches. The matchup cell is the one that fantasy readers have to weight separately from the economy cell, because the dewy-conditions powerplay is a different matchup cell from a dry-afternoon powerplay.
The T20I cell is not the only international cell. The ODI cell carries the unbeaten 69 at No. 8 in Colombo in July 2021, an innings that is the career-best batting line and the one that places him inside the lower-order allrounder cell for projection purposes. The Test cell is the smallest international cell on the record. The international line is dominated by the white-ball formats, and the IPL cell is the franchise-format cell that the auction math carries the heaviest weight on.
The 8 for 10 first-class debut for Rajasthan in 2010-11 is the cell that sits outside the IPL math but inside the career record. The 8 for 10, against Hyderabad who were bowled out for 21, is one of the most striking debut spells in Indian first-class cricket and a useful context cell for the career-peak read. The fantasy read does not project the first-class cell, but the career-narrative cell is the one that an IPL player profile for a 33-year-old pacer has to acknowledge.
What the MI move changes in the 2026 projection cell
The 2026 projection cell for Chahar has to weight three variables. The first is the new-ball skill at the powerplay, the cell that survived the age curve. The second is the batting cell, the one that produced the unbeaten 69 in Colombo and the one that an MI batting order with finishers at 5, 6 and 7 can tap into. The third is the injury cell, the back injury that wiped out the 2022 season and the one that an ageing seam-bowling allrounder carries as a baseline risk.
The new-ball skill is the highest-confidence cell. The 2019 Purple Cap line of 22 wickets in 17 matches, the 3 for 26 in the 2019 final, and the 76 wickets in 76 matches at CSK are the three lines that the projection cell anchors on. The economy line of 7.91 across the CSK career is the career-baseline figure, and the projection cell for the 2026 season has to apply an age-curve regression to that baseline. The IPL Fantasy 2026 player statistics hub publishes the same powerplay-bowling projection for the full 2026 squad, with the dot-ball percentage and the boundary-percentage cells that the Chahar matchup cell sits inside.
The batting cell is the second variable. The unbeaten 69 at No. 8 in Colombo is the career-best line, and the lower-order batting cell at MI is the one that the fantasy cell has to project. MI's batting order at 5, 6 and 7 in 2026 sits with Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma and the lower-order finishers, and the Chahar batting cell is the eighth-or-lower cell. The 2026 projection has to weight the career batting line against the role in the MI order, and the cell is a small but non-zero cell on the projection.
The injury cell is the third variable. The 2022 back injury wiped out the season after a 14 crore buyback, and the age curve on a 33-year-old seam-bowling allrounder is the cell that the projection has to carry as a baseline risk. The 2025 and 2026 numbers at MI will be the data points that confirm or reset the projection, and the auction math that MI committed (9.25 crore) is the cell that frames the franchise's own read on the projection. The career-record cell on the ESPNcricinfo profile, as of 17 June 2026, is the baseline figure the projection cell starts from.
Six factfile questions the 17 June 2026 profile answers
Six questions the ESPNcricinfo career record answers directly, sourced from the 17 June 2026 profile snapshot. The numbers are the ones the profile records; the projections and matchup cells are flagged as the next live data points to watch.
How many IPL titles has Deepak Chahar won?
Three. Chahar won the IPL title with Chennai Super Kings in 2018, 2021 and 2023. He contested six title windows in the CSK jersey (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024) and missed the 2022 season through injury. The 2019 final against Mumbai Indians is the headline match on the title line: 3 for 26 in a losing cause.
What did CSK pay to buy him back at the 2022 mega auction?
CSK bought him back for INR 14 crore at the 2022 mega auction, the second-most expensive buy of that auction. A back injury ruled him out of the entire 2022 season. CSK retained the buy across 2023 (title win) and 2024, and released him at the end of IPL 2024 with 76 wickets in 76 matches at an economy of 7.91 on his CSK record.
What did Mumbai Indians pay at the 2024 mega auction?
Mumbai Indians bought Chahar for INR 9.25 crore at the 2024 mega auction. The bid was below CSK's 14 crore buyback in 2022 and is the cell that anchors the IPL 2026 projection for the MI seam-bowling lineup.
What was the career-best IPL season?
IPL 2019. Chahar took 22 wickets in 17 matches and finished third on the Purple Cap list, behind the eventual winner and the runner-up. The 3 for 26 in the final against Mumbai Indians is the headline match figure. The 2019 line is the career-peak powerplay-bowling cell on the profile record.
What is his best T20I bowling figure?
6 for 7 against Bangladesh in 2019, a spell that included a hat-trick with the wet old ball in dewy conditions. The figures held the record for the best T20I bowling figures at the time. The dewy-conditions variable is the cell that maps directly to IPL powerplay matchups at Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata and the second innings of Mumbai evening fixtures.
Which IPL franchises has he played for?
Four. Rising Pune Supergiant (2016 and 2017), Chennai Super Kings (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024; missed 2022), Mumbai Indians (2025 onwards), and a return window at Rajasthan Royals in the career list. The Bikaner Desert Challengers line is the short-format domestic franchise. The representative-team line covers India, India A and the Indian Board President's XI.
The 17 June 2026 ESPNcricinfo profile snapshot is the baseline figure for the IPL 2026 projection cell. The next live data point is the 2026 IPL season, where the MI seam-bowling lineup and the 9.25 crore auction math will be tested against the same new-ball skill that produced the 2019 Purple Cap chase and the 76-match CSK stat line. The career record the profile records is the cell that the projection cell anchors on, and the dewy-conditions powerplay is the matchup cell that fantasy readers should weight against the age-curve baseline.