Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra feels it is disturbing that Yuzvendra Chahal’s name is never considered for Test selection. Chahal has played 54 ODI matches and 48 T20I games but his name has never been discussed for the Test format by the national selectors as he is yet to make his much-awaited Test debut.
In fact, Chahal doesn’t have a great first-class record while playing for Haryana as he has scalped 84 wickets in 31 matches at a meagre average of 33.21. Thus, Chahal hasn’t come into the national reckoning for the red-ball version. In fact, Chahal last played a first-class match back in December 2018 when Haryana played against Rajasthan at Jaipur.
“His name has never been considered for Test cricket, I find that slightly disturbing. The only thing you can do is to do well. When you play ODIs and T20Is, you do well there and when you get a chance to play first-class cricket, you do well there as well. I do feel for Chahal, I think you can play Test cricket as well. He has got the brains, bowls at a good pace and is accurate,” said Chopra while talking on his YouTube channel.
In fact, Chopra feels Chahal has produced decent numbers in the domestic format as the Lahli pitch (Haryan’s home ground) is not a friend of the spinners.
“His first-class numbers are good. Firstly, he plays for Haryana in Lahli which has an absolute green top, with not much help for the spinners. Generally, the fast bowlers from both sides split the wickets. So your numbers cannot be extraordinary,” observed Chopra.
Meanwhile, Chahal made his first-class debut back in 2009 but hasn’t been able to push a case for himself in the Test team.
On the other hand, Chahal didn’t have a great first half of IPL 2021 for Royal Challengers Bangalore as he scalped four wickets in seven matches and also conceded his runs at an expensive economy rate of 8.26.
“What happened in the first half, you can’t put a finger on it. It happens at times that you are unable to take those many wickets. He was still bowling alright but was not getting the wickets,” said Chopra.
“This time for a change he was made to bowl quite a few overs in the powerplay. When you bowl at that stage, you don’t look for wickets but are more restrictive. Maybe that, but when the next half starts in the UAE, I feel he will come to his own, he has done that in the past,” signed off Chopra.
