"I haven't imagined myself playing in other colour than yellow"- Deepak Chahar

Seam-bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar has revealed that he was 100% confident of returning back to the Chennai Super Kings. The Indian seamer scripted history on the opening day of the mega auction as he became the most expensive Indian fast bowler at an IPL auction.

The Super Kings were able to regain the services of the swing bowler following an intense bid for a whopping sum of Rs 14 Crores.

Speaking to Star Sports, Chahar revealed that N Srinivasan had told him back in 2018 that he will have a long association with the four-time champions.

"I've never spoken about all this to Mahi bhai [captain MS Dhoni] or CSK management. In 2018, I had met Srinivasan sir, and he has said, 'you will play in yellow always'. So I took his word that day and since then I have never spoken about retention. I knew CSK would bid [for me],"

Chahar is a part of the Indian squad that will lock horns with the West Indies in a T20I series later the month.

He revealed the mood in the camp on the auction day.

"We [India's T20I squad] were travelling from Ahmedabad to Kolkata, and the whole team was watching the auction. Everyone was saying kitna ho gaya (what's the bid price?) and all that,"

The Rajasthan player has become a vital cog of the Super Kings in the last four years. Chahar revealed that has never imagined himself playing for any other franchise.

He also revealed that once the bidding shot past Rs 13 Crore, he wanted it to stop quickly so that Chennai has enough money to buy others.

"I wanted to play for CSK because I haven't imagined myself playing in other colour than yellow. At one point, I thought it [the bid price] was too much. As a CSK player, I also want to build a good team. So after they spent 13 crore, I actually wanted the bidding to stop so I can go to CSK quickly and then we can buy some other players [with the money saved]," he revealed.

Chahar was bought for Rs 80 Lakh during the 2018 auction. In the upcoming cycle, he is looking forward to contributing more with the bat, something he has done in Indian colours in recent times.

However, the right-arm seamer also regrets the missed opportunity as far as sharing the dressing room with his brother, Rahul.

"In Pune, I played first game, he played second, I played third, and he played fourth, but we never played together. I was thinking this auction we might play maybe some other time. I'll ask Rahul to come from Punjab for next year (laughs)." he signed off.

Rahul Chahar has been picked by the Punjab Kings for Rs 5.25 Crores.