Former India cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra said that India may have missed a trick by not selecting experienced leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup 2021. Chopra shared that most good T20 sides have a good leg-spinner and the ongoing tournament has proved their worth again.
However, India selected Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy as leg-spinning ahead of Chahal in the squad for the mega event. While Chakravarthy has played in three of India’s five games but has been wicketless, Chahar played the last one.
Much like the Ambati Rayudu-Vijay Shankar swap, preferring Rahul Chahar over Yuzvendra Chahal will be talked about in the years to come. #India #T20WorldCup
— Srinjoy Sanyal (@srinjoysanyal07) November 8, 2021
Speaking about the success of leg-spinners in the T20 World Cup 2021, Chopra said, “Leg-spinners are ruling the roost. Wanindu Hasaranga took a hat-trick, Adam Zampa claimed a five-for. Rashid Khan has been outstanding and Ish Sodhi has been very good. So most of the leg-spinners have come to the fore. Even when the ball has been wet, they have been able to make an impact. That’s the beauty of leg-spinners.”
“Looking at the great performances made me wonder whether India erred by not picking (Yuzvendra) Chahal. If he was there, 100% he would have played. But because we chose Rahul Chahar ahead of him, we decided to give the first chance to Varun Chakravarthy in the playing XI. Then we played (Ravichandran) Ashwin, which is not a bad idea. But the fact is if Chahal was there, he would have been your original choice. The way leg-spinners have performed, maybe we missed a trick. Leg-spinners usually do well in T20 cricket,” Aakash Chopra continued.
India has played their last match in the T20 World Cup 2021 against Namibia in Dubai on Monday where they registered a convincing win as well. While they had started with two successive defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand, they bounced back and won the rest three.
Notably, Yuzvendra Chahal had an impressive IPL 2021 for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), where he picked up 18 scalps in 15 matches at a strike rate of 17.66 and an economy rate of 7.05 as well.
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