Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal's absence from the T20I squad for the three-match series against South Africa raised eyebrows.
BCCI announced the fifteen-member squad to take on South Africa in the T20I series at home, which saw the return of Hardik Pandya. However, MS Dhoni continued to remain absent from the side.
While MSK Prasad revealed that Dhoni made himself unavailable for selection for the tour, there were two other exclusions which raised eyebrows among the fans and former cricketers.
Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, the spin-twins fondly named 'KulCha' due to their significant success at home and overseas during their time together in the Indian colours, were absent from the squad.
While Kuldeep is a part of the Indian team in all the three formats, Chahal is a specialist limited-overs bowler for the side.
Chief Selector MSK Prasad has now provided the reasoning behind the decision. Talking to India Today, Prasad said, "We are just trying to build a pool of spinners. The likes of Rahul Chahar, Krunal Pandya, and Washington Sundar had done well in the last series and they deserve another go.”
Yuzvendra Chahal was impressive in the first of the five-match series between India A and South Africa A on Thursday, as the leg-spinner took a five-wicket haul to lead India to a 68-run win.
Kuldeep, however, has had a poor few months. He had a dry outing in the Indian Premier League, and failed to impress in the World Cup as well. The left-arm chinaman picked up three wickets in the ODI series on the West Indies tour.
