Sad To See Yuzvendra Chahal Not Being Given An Opportunity - Daniel Vettori

Former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori questioned the reasoning behind excluding Yuzvendra Chahal from the Indian squad for the ongoing 3-match T20I series against the visiting Black Caps team.

Chahal was overlooked for the recently concluded T20 World Cup as well despite being the best Indian spinner in the second leg of the IPL 2021 season. Instead of him, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy were preferred, and neither of them had an impact on the matches.

“Venkatesh Iyer is being rewarded for his form in the IPL. It’s sad to see Chahal not being given the same opportunity. We all know what Ashwin can do, is he going to be in the starting XI for the World Cup next year, who knows? But Chahal was bowling exceptionally well and was a wicket-taking option for Kohli throughout the IPL. He is one of the best T20 leggies in the world,” Vettori said in a conversation with ESPNcricinfo.

“The Chahal we saw in the IPL was the Chahal we know” – Daniel Vettori

Yuzvendra Chahal took 15 wickets in 15 games in IPL 2021 and conceded at just 7.05 rpo in the process. He was very consistent and Virat Kohli’s go-to bowler in the middle-overs, where he always provided the skipper with a breakthrough. On the back of these performances, he deserved a place in the World Cup squad, as per Vettori.

“At the time, the decision was probably right to leave him out of the World Cup squad, but then the Chahal that we saw in the IPL, was the Chahal we all know.

“Chahal bowled quicker in the IPL, trying to spin more, and attacked the stumps more often. So, I thought he deserved the opportunity to come back into the starting XI tonight after being left out earlier,” Vettori added.

India defeated New Zealand by five wickets in the first T20I in Jaipur held on Wednesday.

Also, Read – IND vs NZ 2021: Aakash Chopra Feels Rohit Sharma Made An Error Of Not Bowling Venkatesh Iyer Against New Zealand