"Such things have already happened to me..." - Amit Mishra criticizes treatment of Yuzvendra Chahal by BCCI and selectors

Former Indian cricketer Amit Mishra has reacted to the treatment the senior leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been getting from the BCCI and the national selectors, as he has been in and out of the Indian cricket team without getting a match in recent times.

Chahal was recently part of India’s historic ICC T20 World Cup 2024 triumph, but he didn’t get a single game in the USA and West Indies, and then the leg-spinner was dropped from Team India for the recent Zimbabwe tour. This story has been repeated for the past few years, especially at the ICC events.

Amit Mishra slams BCCI for ignoring Yuzvendra Chahal despite stellar IPL performances

He is one of the most successful leg spinners in white-ball cricket, and he is also consistently delivering in the IPL, but he has been continuously ignored by the Indian cricket team management.

Chahal, despite being the highest wicket-taker in the IPL, has not played a single match in the T20 World Cup. He was selected for the 2022 and 2024 T20 World Cups, but only for the warm bench.

Well, the question has been raised that it is certain Chahal will not get the opportunity in the T20 World Cup 2024 due to team combinations, but he would have been definitely hoping to get a call-up for the recent five-match T20I series in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, he was yet again ignored.

The 33-year-old spinner was dropped from the Indian team, while his other T20 World Cup-winning teammates, including Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, were picked for the Zimbabwe tour.

Players deserve their chance to prove: Amit Mishra

Reacting to the selection drama, Mishra said that the age factor has been playing with the players’ careers for a long time in India, and that’s the same thing that happened with him and others.

Amit Mishra said on Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel: “There is a perception in the Indian team that they select specific players for the home and away conditions. If a bowler does well in India, there are quick judgments that he is not bowling well; he can’t do this and that. Such things have already happened to me, so I can relate to others.

What I mean to say is that unless you play him, you will not know how capable he is. You drop a player only after one match in the five-match series; at least he should get a couple of more chances to prove himself.”

The former spinner explained how Kuldeep Yadav was not anywhere before the IPL 2024, and even IPL teams were not considering him for selection for the last one and a half years, but things changed suddenly.

Amit Mishra calls for clarity as Yuzvendra Chahal repeatedly dropped from Team India

He further mentioned that when a player gets regular chances, he knows where things are and where he needs to improve. But when a player is on the sidelines, he is just left confused.

Mishra noted, “You can’t expect Chahal to score 40 runs; he can’t. You can expect him to contribute with the ball only. It is all about team selection. In the T20 World Cup, there was a need for one between Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. But they played together despite doing the same job. The good thing is that India won the World Cup, but they could play Chahal along with one of them.”

On why Chahal dropped for the Zimbabwe tour, Mishra signed off by saying: “There is a concept running in the world to select young players. There are players who are 32, 33, and 37 years old, and they are meeting all the fitness expectations and performing well, so the team management should make things clear with them about their position. Give them clarity that you are not seeing them on the team. This thing is not new; it happened to me.”