Rahul Desraj Chahar, born on 4 August 1999 is an Indian cricket player who plays for the India U19, U23 and India-A team. Born in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, Rahul is a right arm leg-break spinner with respectable batting skills.
On November 2016, Chahar made his first-class debut against Odisha aged 16. He registered impressive bowling figures with 1/24 in nine overs, which included three maiden overs. The second innings saw him taking a wicket for 119 runs, having bowled 33 overs.
Rahul made his List-A debut against Madhya Pradesh on 25 February 2017. Even though he only salvaged a wicket at the expense of 48 runs, Chahar has improved his performance over time, with his stats till date reading nine wickets from seven List-A matches at the economy of 4.78. Chahar was then selected in the squad for India U23 in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup 2017 held in Bangladesh.
With impressive performances in his small outing, Rahul was selected to play against the Under-19 team in England. He performed well, taking 10 wickets in 4 youth ODIs at an average of 15.2.
Chahar's biggest moment under the sun was getting picked for Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2017. Though he played only 3 games, he learnt a lot about cricket at the top level and later applied it in the 2019 season whilst playing for Mumbai Indians. One of his flying saves at the boundary line became a sought after video from IPL 10.
Chahar was dropped from the U19 World Cup squad but he hit the lottery when he was bought by Mumbai Indians for a whopping Rs 1.9 crore in the IPL 2018 auction. He played 13 matches in the tournament and took 13 wickets and became Rohit Sharma's go-to-man to break the partnerships.
After an impressive season with Mumbai Indians, Rahul Chahar made his only T20I appearance so far against West Indies at Providence on August 6, 2019. He bowled 3 overs, giving away 27 runs whilst picking the maiden wicket of Carlos Braithwaite.
Rahul Chahar's elder brother Deepak Chahar is also a cricketer and has represented India and Chennai Super Kings at the top level. They both have been trained by their father.
