Asia Cup 2023: “I’ll Always Pick Yuzvendra Chahal” – Sourav Ganguly’s Bold Statement After Leg-Spinner’s Snub

Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chairman Sourav Ganguly opened up about India’s bowling attack. He said that no matter what he will always pick Yuzvendra Chahal in the side as he is a wrist spinner. 

India’s squad for the Asia Cup 2023 was finally announced and it saw the team management picking three spinners. Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav were the ones who got the nod ahead and unfortunately, Yuzvendra Chahal was the only one who had to face the snub. 

Yuzvendra Chahal was expected to make it into the team for the Asia Cup 2023 despite his record not being great of late. But selectors didn’t name him as they preferred Axar Patel ahead of him because of his batting ability down the order. Ajit Agarkar mentioned that they looked at a balance of the side and it was not possible for them to include two wrist spinners. 

Ahead of the squad announcement, Sourav Ganguly was asked about Yuzvendra Chahal’s spot in the team for the Asia Cup 2023. Replying to this, he said that he doesn’t know about the thinking of selectors but he’ll pick the leg-spinner. Speaking at Casagrand’s launch event in Mumbai, he explained: 

“I’ll always pick Chahal. I’ll always pick wrist spinners. I don’t know what the selectors think but I’d always pick wrist spinners.”

Yuzvendra Chahal hasn’t been in the greatest of touch of late. The leg-spinner hasn’t played any ODIs for the team this year but in 9 T20Is this year he has picked just 9 wickets at an economy rate of around 9. 

Asia Cup 2023: Ashwin is a great bowler but India will pick wrist spinners – Sourav Ganguly 

Sourav Ganguly was also asked if India could pick Ravichandran Ashwin in the team because of no off-spinner in the team. Replying to this, he said that although he’s a great bowler but according to him selectors will prefer wrist spinners over him. He explained: 

“Ashwin is a great bowler. [But] I think India will also look at the wrist spinners. There’s Kuldeep, there’s Chahal. Wrist spinners are very important. Once you see the team, you’ll understand which way they are thinking and I presume they’ll have the wrist spinners.”

Here’s India’s squad for the Asia Cup 2023: 

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, and Sanju Samson (back up).