On September 9, the Indian Cricket Team announced its squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Few surprising names were left out from the 15-member squad. Some names were also there that no one had expected. One of the biggest names to be excluded from the T20 World Cup squad is RCB leg spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal. Chahal has been India’s number 1 spinner in the limited-overs format since 2018 but didn’t get a place in the T20 WC squad announced on Thursday. Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion from the 15-member squad for T20 World Cup 2021 was shocking because he has been a regular starter for the Indian team in limited-overs format. The more shocking thing is that he isn’t even there on the standby list. His absence from the T20 squad has left his fans in a bitter mood. In this article, we will show why Yuzvendra Chahal is not selected in India’s T20 World Cup 2021 Squad.
Besides Chahal, the exclusion of Shikhar Dhawan is also surprising.
Why Shikhar Dhawan is not included in India’s T20 World Cup 2021 Squad?
Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion from the Indian squad for T20 World Cup came as a shocking surprise not only for the fans but for the player himself. Virat Kohli has always shown faith in Yuzi whenever the team needed a wicket, whether in IPL or international cricket. Chahal’s omission is as big as the inclusion of veteran Ravi Ashwin in the squad.
Why Yuzvendra Chahal is not selected in India’s T20 World Cup 2021 Squad?
Taking into consideration the skill and experience of Yuzvendra Chahal, it was unfair to exclude him from India’s T20 World Cup squad. While answering the Press on the T20 World Cup squad, Chetan Sharma the chief Indian selector revealed the reason behind Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion from India’s T20 World Cup Squad.
“Spinners who bowl quick was our priority. Recently we have seen Rahul Chahar bowling with speed. The selectors’ view was we need a spinner who can find the grip off the surface on the wickets and deliver with slightly more speed, and while we had a lot of discussion on Chahal, we eventually went with Rahul Chahar.” Chetan Sharma said.
The choice between Yuzvendra Chahal and Rahul Chahar was a choice between choosing an experienced but out-of-form spinner and investing in a young in-form bowler who could be a match-winner in the foreseeable future.
It is no doubt that Chahal has been amazing for India in the past but his numbers post 2019 have seen a major decline. Chahal delivered a brilliant economy rate of 4.88 during the two-year period 2017-2018 but after that, he started to leak runs and his economy rate started to rise significantly post 2019. The leg spinner has not had the same control he did in the middle overs. On the other hand, Chahar has been the unsung hero for the Mumbai Indians. He played a crucial role with the ball for MI both in 2019 and 2020. He picked 13 wickets at an economy rate of 6.55 in 2019 and 15 wickets in the UAE last year.
The talented leg-spinner has been team India’s chief spinner for the past four years. Team selectors choose the trickery leg-spin bowling of Rahul Chahar over Chahal’s experience and reputation. Yuzi has been team India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is, who has impressed the fans by taking crucial wickets during big matches. Although, the Indian team have some exciting options to explore but Yuzi’s presence would have made the bowling attack of India more threatening.
Read also: Here’s why Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes pulled out of IPL 2021
After Yuzvendra Chahal failed to make a place in the Indian squad, his wife Dhanashree shared her pain through the story on Instagram.
India T20 World Cup 2021 Squad
Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami
Standby players – Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.
