India's 15-member squad for the upcoming World Cup was announced today and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal missed out on making it to the mega event. Another wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was preferred in the squad while the other two spinners - Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel - are all-rounders. However, both of them are left-arm spinners and many reckoned, India's bowling attack is one-dimensional. Former chief selector Chetan Sharma has opened up on the squad picked for World Cup and also listed out the possible reason for Chahal not getting picked.
Not long ago, Chetan was India's chief selector and he explained how things are discussed in the selection meeting. According to him,only one out of Chahal and Kuldeep could've made it to the squad as India need a bowling all-rounder at number eight. The reason for Axar and even Shardul Thakur making it to the World Cup team is their superior batting ability compared to Chahal.
Notably, the leg-spinner also last played in ODIs in January 2023 which makes it clear that Kuldeep was always the preferred option. Perhaps, Chetan Sharma went on to add that Washington Sundar's must have been discussed more as he is also an off-spinner and a decent all-rounder. But the fact that he didn't play much in recent times went against him.
"It is important like I said, if you need a fast bowling all-rounder, apart from Hardik you have only Shardul Thakur. You must have two fast bowling all-rounders like you have two spin-bowling all-rounders. Jadeja, Hardik, Axar and Shardul, you needed these four players. For Washington Sundar, the problem was he didn't play many matches and wasn't in the scheme of things as well. You could've picked Washington Sundar in place of Axar Patel. According to me, Sundar's name must have been discussed definitely. As for Yuzvendra Chahal, only one of him or Kuldeep could've played. Chahal missed out because, Kuldeep has been preferred," Sharma said while speaking to India TV.
