Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar and a family project leading to India selection

Suratgarh is a small town in Rajasthan’s Ganganagar district that, especially in 2004, had little to fuel cricketing dreams.

But passion courses its own way.

Lokendra Chahar, an Indian Air Force sergeant in the town, though had dreams for a career in the game for his son Deepak, who along with cousin Rahul will represent India in the T20Is in the West Indies next month.

“I could never play cricket at a good level as I didn’t get an opportunity. But I wanted my son to play. I was willing to push myself and him into it. I thought if we fail, we’ll fail together. If we pass, we’ll pass together. I had no idea how to coach in cricket. I learnt on my own for my son’s sake,” says Lokendra, who went by logic and surfed the internet to find methods to coach.

Lokendra’s heroes were Waqar Younis, Dale Steyn and Malcolm Marshall. He began holding nets for his son inside the air force complex. As a serviceman, he wasn’t allowed to run an academy. The sessions were meant only for Deepak. He’d invite his air force colleagues who had played some level of cricket. Deepak would bowl and they would mostly bat.

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“He was 12 then. We would practice at night, after work. It was tough going in the initial stages. I had to shell out ~7,000-8,000 a month to bear the expenses. Sometimes, it would go up to ~10,000. I sought permission from the authorities to reserve an area for training,” recalls Lokendra.

Almost half of the money was spent on buying cricket balls. “We would buy all kind of balls. Just to ensure he gets to practice with all kinds of balls, we would buy varieties from Punjab and Meerut.”

The emphasis was on swing even at that young age.

“I had ideas even without any knowledge of coaching. The most important thing was swing. I made him bowl 500 deliveries (standing at the crease, rather than run in, to ensure he used his wrists to bowl).

“I’d stand behind the stumps. He soon learnt how to swing it both ways. Sometimes, we would record it in a camera. No one could swing more than him in Rajasthan at the junior level. Then came work on control and accuracy.”

The arrangement continued for two years before Lokendra had to leave air force.

“I left the job because I was being transferred down South. I didn’t want to shift as that would mean Deepak wouldn’t be able to play for Rajasthan, so I left the job and headed back home to Agra with my kid,” he says.

Navendu Tyagi, who was then the secretary of Hanumangarh district cricket body, was of great help during his stay at Suratgarh. Tyagi recalls Lokendra’s commitment. “He would ride 57km on his scooter to Hanumangarh just to ensure he got Deepak proper training and matches to play,” says Tyagi, who has since moved to Delhi.

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Tyagi would organise matches and work on his wards’ fitness. His camp in Hanumangarh was known to be very taxing, and even though there were few facilities, his techniques were praised. The Chahars would travel to Hanumangarh 8-10 days a month on scooter to train under Tyagi.

Having returned to Agra in 2006 after giving up his job, Lokendra, only 37, finally opened his academy, starting with 15-20 trainees. He had to take a loan of R8-10 lakh from friends to set up the facility.

“We made turf wicket and cement wicket. We took a college ground and got matting, which the kids would carry on scooter,” Lokendra says.

Lokendra’s nephew Rahul, only eight then and seven years younger to Deepak, also joined the camp. Rahul is the son of Lokendra’s younger brother Brijraj, who is into real estate business. Like Deepak, who had played Rajasthan U-15 by then, Rahul too wanted to become a fast bowler. He struggled before Deepak told his father to make Rahul bowl leg-spin. It worked and helped build a career in cricket as he wasn’t too keen on studies.

Regular school was a no-no for them. Deepak didn’t go to school regularly after eighth standard and Rahul stopped after fourth. The argument was that if they continued their schooling, they would have had to compromise on fitness.

Lokendra would ensure 3-4 hours’ fitness session in the morning followed by nets in the evening, besides gym and swimming. They began at 8 am and worked till midnight with a two-three hour lunch break.

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“When Rahul started playing, he was weak. But he works hard on fitness. Sometimes, I have to stop him. In fact, Rahul does as much fitness as Deepak does. He would follow the fast bowler’s routine, which is why you see he is very fit,” adds Lokendra.

The three-four hours of training involved rudimentary exercises such as running up and down the steps of a large water tank (50-60 feet deep), tyre-pulling, cycling and ‘kulhari’ (cutting wood with a heavy axe simulates the bowling action), among other things.

Deepak Chahar broke into the Ranji Trophy squad in 2010, claiming an eight-wicket haul against Hyderabad on debut. He got his IPL break in 2016 (Chennai Super Kings), playing his only ODI so far in 2018. Rahul’s IPL break came in 2017, playing just three games, before he got his full season in 2019 with Mumbai Indians.