Chahal’s title was conspicuously absent from the roster for the Asia Cup, a call introduced on Monday. However, India’s captain Rohit Sharma has left a slight opening for the 33-year-old within the forthcoming ODI World Cup, slated to be hosted at dwelling in October-November.
The expert tactician, as soon as the linchpin of India’s middle-over bowling, finds himself in a well-known state of affairs because the anticipation of one other World Cup looms on the horizon.
Chahal’s journey has been marked by ups and downs. He was controversially omitted from the 2021 T20 World Cup squad however managed to make a comeback within the 2022 version held in Australia.
Despite his return, he didn’t safe a spot within the enjoying eleven as finger spinners have been most popular within the lineup.
Kuldeep Yadav, one half of the celebrated ‘Kul-Cha’ duo has left the opposite half behind within the pecking order. Kuldeep is the only wrist-spinner within the 17-member squad for Asia Cup with the think-tank going for the higher batter in Axar Patel alongside Ravindra Jadeja.
India appear to be banking closely on the quick bowlers to do the job within the World Cup however within the spin division, can Kuldeep, Axar and Jadeja present the a lot wanted wickets within the center overs?
Will not choosing Chahal harm India on the Asia Cup, prefer it did in T20 format when Varun Chakaravarthy, on foundation of 1 season of IPL, was picked forward of him in what turned out to be a forgettable marketing campaign for the thriller spinner in addition to the crew.
If the chosen mixture would not work within the continental occasion, India will likely be pressured to rethink their choices forward of the 50-over showpiece occasion at dwelling. Besides not having a right-arm wrist-spin choice, there is no such thing as a off-break bowler within the squad both.
“We thought about an off-spinner as well, Ashwin and Washy (Washington Sundar), but right now you see Chahal had to miss out because we could only pick 17 players,” mentioned Rohit after the squad announcement.
“The only way we could have picked him was if one of the seamers was missing. We can’t do that because seamers are going to play a big role in the next two months. A few of them are coming back after a long time, so we wanted to have a good look at them, get them in and see what they have to offer.
“Having mentioned that, no doorways are closed on anybody. Anyone can are available in anytime. If we really feel like we’d like Chahal for the World Cup, we’ll see how we will squeeze him in, identical goes for Washy or Ashwin.”
The management has clearly punted on the superior batting skills of Axar though Chahal has got more wickets in the 50-over format since the start of 2022. Chahal has taken 24 wickets in 16 games since the start of last year while the more economical left-arm spinner has 13 scalps in 14 games.
However, Chahal’s non-selection in the Asia Cup squad was not entirely a surprise as he sat on the sidelines in the ODI series in the West Indies. He got the breakthroughs in the following T20s in the Caribbean but the selectors were not convinced enough.
His unlikely comeback will mainly depend on the performance of the chosen trio in the Asia Cup beginning August 31. But with selectors set to announce the provisional World Cup squad by September 5, is there enough time to change their minds? Perhaps, No.
(With PTI Inputs)
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com