Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal broke his silence after getting snubbed from Asia Cup 2023 squad. Notably, Chahal was dropped to make way for an extra pacer.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma categorically stated that he couldn’t have missed out on the pace bowling option to pick Chahal or R Ashwin.
“We thought about off spinner Ashwin and Washy ( Washington Sundar) but right now you saw Chahal has to miss out and we can’t get him in because we can take only 15 and only way we could have done that is by dropping a seamer,” Sharma said while addressing a press conference.
Post the squad announcement, the 33-year-old shared a cryptic tweet on Twitter.
He used a ‘Sun behind Cloud’ emoji and then a ‘Sun with face’ emoji, suggesting the phrase “Clouds will clear and the sun will shine again”
Sometimes it is the balance of team: Agarkar
Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar also shared his thoughts and said, “He is another terrific performer for India. Sometimes it is the balance of the team or the team combination”.
“Axar Patel has done really well. He can bat too. Kuldeep Yadav has had a fantastic run to this point. So someone had to miss out. Kuldeep is currently a little ahead of him (Chahal)”, said Agarkar in the conference.
However, skipper Rohit confirmed that the door is still open for him to get in World Cup 2023 squad.
“But the door is open for all. If we need Chahal in World Cup, we will try to squeeze him in. The same goes for Ashwin and Washington,” Rohit added.
The squad will now assemble in Banglore for a 6-day camp starting on August 24. India will play their first match against arch rival Pakistan on September 2.
Team India squad for Asia Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Md Shami, Md Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (Backup)
