Chennai Super Kings Bowler Deepak Chahar Breaks 10-Year-Old IPL Dot Ball Record

Bowling for Chennai Super Kings against Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday, pacer Deepak Chahar created the record for bowling the most dot balls in an innings in the history of the Indian Premier League. There were 20 dot balls in his spell. The previous record for bowling the most dot balls in an IPL innings was previously jointly held by Asish Nehra (Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab, 2009), Munaf Patel (Rajasthan Royals vs KKR, 2009) and Fidel Edwards (Deccan Chargers vs KKR, 2009), all of whom had bowled 19 dot balls in an innings.   

Opening the bowling, Chahar only conceded one run off the bat in his first over, also accounting for the wicket of Chris Lynn. There were four overthrows in this over though.

No runs were scored off the bat of his second over, as KKR lost Nitish Rana to the 26-year-old. There was, however, one wide.

Bowling his third over, Chahar was hit for two consecutive boundaries by Robin Uthappa. However, Chahar had the last laugh in this over too, following up with Uthappa's wicket and four dot balls.

Coming back at the death to bowl his fourth over, Chahar bowled five dot balls in the 19th over to keep the big-hitting Andre Russell quiet. Russell could only connect with one ball in the over, even which beat long on Ravindra Jadeja only by inches.

Chahar finished the match with figures of 3/20. Chahar has emerged to be one of the stars of IPL 2019, having flowered under MS Dhoni's leadership. With 8 wickets taken in 6 matches at an astounding economy rate of 5.95, he is only behind Kagiso Rabada among fast bowlers in the race for the Purple Cap this season.