Yuzvendra Chahal reacts to getting dropped from World Cup 2022 playing11: Nearly a month after team India’s exit from the T20 World Cup 2022, leading wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has broken his silence on his snub from the playing11 in the tournament. Chahal, who was believed to be the front-runner to lead India’s spin attack in Australia, couldn’t get a single game to perform in the entire World Cup.
The Haryana-born spinner was dropped from the playing11, making a way for veteran Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel to provide depth in the batting department along with their tweaking skills, the plan which certainly backfired in the semi-final against England.
The experts slammed the Indian management for once again ignoring the role of wrist spinner. Chahal and pacer Harshal Patel, who were almost certain to find a place in the playing11, were the only two Indian players from the 15-member squad who were benched throughout India’s campaign in the T20 World Cup.
Speaking on his snub, Yuzvendra Chahal said he was already informed by the skipper Rohit Sharma and the management about the needs of the team.
“It’s not an individual game. Every team has their own set of combinations. And then I saw Ashwin and Axar performing well…those things happen in life. I just knew that if get an opportunity I have to be ready and coach and Rohit bhai had clarified that to me,” said Yuzvendra Chahal.
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Notably, Chahal was outstanding with his performance in the shortest format in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup. In all the 21 T20Is he featured in the year 2022, he scalped 23 wickets. Moreover, his performance in the IPL 2022 was also encouraging (27 wickets from 17 games).
The leg-spinner touched upon his future goals with team India. He said playing for India is his primary aim. Getting named in the playing11 or not isn’t in his hands.
“The 50-over World Cup is going to happen next. The last World Cup which I played, in 2019, was also a 50-over World Cup. I don’t tend to think about all this stuff that much. For me, what matters is playing for India, that is my first goal. Now whether I am picked in the XI or not is not in my hand. I hope I can continue playing in the same manner, get to play for my country and hope India becomes the champions in 2023,” he said.