Former cricketer Aakash Chopra feels India lack wicket-taking options in the spin department in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup. The BCCI on Monday, September 12, announced a 15-member squad for the marquee T20 competition scheduled to take place in Australia.
Unsurprisingly, the squad is largely along the expected lines. Only Ravi Bishnoi was not considered for the World Cup despite playing well in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022. Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh was picked to add variety to the pace attack, with Avesh Khan missing out.
Analysing India’s T20 World Cup squad, Aakash Chopra isn’t entirely pleased with one department. The former opener feels the Men in Blue lack wicket-taking options in the spin department.
“You have picked three spinners – an offspinner, a legspinner and a left-arm spinner. So you have picked different-different options but Yuzi Chahal is the only legit wicket-taking option in T20 cricket,” Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.
One title 🏆
One goal 🎯
Our squad 💪🏻#TeamIndia | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Dw9fWinHYQ— BCCI (@BCCI) September 12, 2022
“The others are defensive options – make no mistake, that is the truth. You can see the numbers for the last 12 months, IPL included for both of them – Axar and Ravichandran Ashwin,” he further explained.
“You are not thinking about Kuldeep at all” – Aakash Chopra disappointed with spinner’s exclusion
Aakash Chopra said that he was disappointed to see Ravi Bishnoi only making it to the reserve squad. He was also unhappy not see Kuldeep Yadav not being considered for the T20 World Cup.
“Ravi Bishnoi was a tempting option available to you. You are not thinking about Kuldeep at all, which is slightly disappointing, but he could also have been a wicket-taking option. But you didn’t think about either of them.“It will be very interesting whether you will be able to play two out of the three spinners in the XI. Will you be able to play either Axar or Ravi (Ashwin) along with Yuzi Chahal – that’s going to be a big one,” Chopra concluded.
