Chahar added to Surrey squad for final championship match

India leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has been drafted into the Surrey squad for their season-ending fixture against Hampshire in the English County season.

The game will be played at the Utilita Bowl from September 24 to 27.

The 26-year-old Chahar, who has played six T20Is and one ODI, was registered for the final part of the County Championship season in early September, but was not required to play in the two home games at the Oval against Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire.

"Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar comes into the squad for the final Rothesay County Championship match of the season. Chahar plays for Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy and has represented India seven times in white-ball cricket," Surrey Cricket posted on X.

In the match for which he has been picked, Chahar will come up against fellow Indian all-rounder Washington Sundar.

According

to a statement by director of cricket Alec Stewart on the club's website, they had initially planned to bring back Chahar's compatriot R. Sai Kishore, who picked up 11 wickets in two matches in his stint at the club, but a finger injury and subsequent surgery rendered the player unavailable.

"I'm excited to join Surrey for this week's match. I'm coming here to have an impact and help the team in their final match of the season," Chahar told the Surrey website.

Chahar, who currently plays for Rajasthan in the Indian domestic circuit, has played in 24 first class matches and taken 87 wickets at an average of 28.01.

"Adding Rahul to the squad gives us another spin option at the Utilita Bowl," said Stewart.

"We always knew that we would be missing players for the final period of the season and try to plan accordingly given the potential surfaces and the opposition we're playing.

"We had originally earmarked for Sai Kishore to return for the latter stages of the season but he unfortunately has a finger injury resulting in an operation has meant he was unavailable."

Surrey are currently also missing spin options Will Jacks and Cam Steel who are both ruled out due to injury.