‘Playing for India has given me everything’
ONE of the youngest players in the Indian hockey team, Salima Tete has been instrumental in the team’s success stories in the last half-decade.
She was part of the Bronze medal-winning team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
‘After we had a bad campaign at the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup Spain and Netherlands 2022, the team’s aim and our focus were very clear. We wanted to do well at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, there was no other option. We were sure we had to get a medal before returning back to India,’ she said. She believes that the players’ meetings with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi are nothing short of motivating, and not just for someone like her.
Chahar has been a familiar face in the 20-overs squad, shouldering new ball duties and providing late cameos with the bat. But he was sidelined for six months after suffering a quadriceps tear in February and then hurting his back.
There was no rustiness on his return as he claimed 3-27, dismissing Zimbabwe’s top three batsmen to set up India’s 10-wicket win in Harare.
Chahar said he was not preoccupied with his selection for the World Cup in Australia in October-November.
‘That is not in my hand,’ he said after collecting the man-of-the-match award.
‘Skill-wise, though, I have worked really hard. There I can say I have probably started where I had left off.
‘After the first over, rest whatever I bowled, I was happy. It was a seven-over spell, so the fitness is good.’
While Jasprit Bumrah remains India’s automatic choice across formats, the emergence of fellow seamers Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh complicates Chahar’s return to the 20-overs squad ahead of the World Cup.