Asia Cup 2023: Irfan Pathan Reacts After India Drop Yuzvendra Chahal For Upcoming Asia Cup
Published - 22 Aug 2023, 03:17 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 09:42 AM
Former Team India allrounder has given his reaction to the selectors??? decision to not pick Yuzvendra Chahal in the India squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023. The India squad for the continental championship was announced on Monday (August 21).
Yuzvendra Chahal???s exclusion from the ODI team was one of the highlights of the India squad. The leg-spinner has fallen down the pecking order in the Indian team in recent times and the latest snub is yet another big setback for him.
The leg-spinner did not play a single match during the three-match ODI series against West Indies last month. He also warmed the bench throughout the three-match ODI series against Australia earlier this year. During the five-match T20I series against West Indies earlier this month, he played in all the games but did not make a big impact as he managed only 5 wickets.
Irfan Pathan reacts to Yuzvendra Chahal???s non-selection:
The selectors??? decision not to pick Yuzvendra Chahal in the team has caused quite a stir in the Indian cricket fraternity. Not only the fans but several former cricketers have also expressed their surprise over the decision. And Irfan Pathan has also given his opinion on the issue.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the former cricketer said that he would have liked to see the leg-spinner in the team, writing: ???Worry for selectors that Bumrah and Prasidh coming back from long lay off. That???s one of the two reasons you will see Indian team playing with an extra bowler who can bat. I would have Chahal in my squad. What do you guys think????
Meanwhile, captain Rohit Sharma has said that Yuzvendra Chahal failed to make it to the squad as the team management wanted more batting depth in the team.
???We had a deep discussion about an offspinner and a legspinner as well. But see, things boil down to batting options at Nos. 8 and 9. We wanted someone who can bat there. Axar had a good run this year, did well in white-ball cricket???
???With him being there, it allows us that option of firstly having that left-hander who can go up and play the spinners and then he creates for us that batting depth. We talked about Ashwin and Washington as well. As you saw, even Chahal missed out because we can only get 17 players in,??? Rohit said.
India squad for Asia Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (backup)
