"Not once he looked down after getting hit for six" - Sunil Gavaskar hails Tushar Deshpande for stepping up for CSK in IPL 2023

Former Indian cricketer and legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Tushar Deshpande for exceeding expectations with the ball in the IPL 2023 season. Chennai faced a massive blow when Deepak Chahar injured himself in just their second game of the season.

However, Deshpande has stepped up into that role and has proved to be the bowler Chennai have been able to bank on. In eight matches, Deshpande has picked up a staggering 14 wickets and is in the race to win the Purple Cap.

Speaking to Star Sports, here's what Sunil Gavaskar had to say about the composure shown by Tushar Deshpande, especially at the death:

"Tushar Deshpande has risen to the challenge of bowling in death and pressure situations for CSK. He keeps picking up wickets at crucial times for his team and not once he looked down after getting hit for six. His body language looks positive this year."

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"Big believer of staying in the present" - Tushar Deshpande

Deshpande has closed out many games for CSK under pressure and one of them was a high-scoring encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Despite the chase being in RCB's favor, they fell short at the back-end of their chase as it was Deshpande and Matheesha Pathirana who showed nerves of steel.

Here's what Deshpande had to say about his mindset during such crunch moments:

"I’m a big believer of staying in the present. In T20 cricket, even if one over comes here and there, I have three more overs to come back and make an impact. I just try to stay in the moment and keep the belief in myself."

Despite injury concerns, CSK have done really well to remain in the top four at the time of writing, thanks to the performances of Deshpande and others.