Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra believes Yuzvendra Chahal is the only legit wicket-taking option in India’s spin battery for the T20 World Cup 2022. Chahal has been performing consistently in the shortest format of the game and provides crucial breakthroughs in the middle overs.
But the leg-spinner didn’t have a great run in the recently concluded Asia Cup as he failed to deliver the goods for the team. Chahal could only scalp four wickets in four matches and conceded his runs at an economy rate of 7.93.
On the other hand, Indian selectors have picked Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel in the T20 World Cup squad but Aakash Chopra reckons both of these spinners are defensive as they look to be economical in their spells and are not genuine wicket-takers.
“You have picked three spinners – an offspinner, a legspinner and a left-arm spinner. So you have picked different-different options but Yuzi Chahal is the only legit wicket-taking option in T20 cricket,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“The others are defensive options – make no mistake, that is the truth. You can see the numbers for the last 12 months, IPL included for both of them – Axar and Ravichandran Ashwin,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ravi Bishnoi was picked in the reserve players list for the T20 World Cup while Kuldeep Yadav hasn’t been in the reckoning for selection.
“Ravi Bishnoi was a tempting option available to you. You are not thinking about Kuldeep at all, which is slightly disappointing, but he could also have been a wicket-taking option. But you didn’t think about either of them.
The renowned commentator added that it would be interesting to note India’s combination in the T20I showpiece as they are expected to play two spinners in the final XI.
“It will be very interesting whether you will be able to play two out of the three spinners in the XI. Will you be able to play either Axar or Ravi (Ashwin) along with Yuzi Chahal – that’s going to be a big one,” Chopra further added.
India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan on 23rd October at the MCG.
