Harbhajan Singh slammed Team India’s selection process and said that he still can’t accept that Rahul Chahar is a better bowler than Yuzvendra Chahal.
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Veteran Team India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has questioned the Indian team’s selection for the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup. The side led by Virat Kohli failed to reach the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament. Defeats in the opening two league matches against Pakistan and New Zealand pushed Team India into a state of deep bother, with wins against Afghanistan and Scotland not enough to see them through. Harbhajan questioned the team management’s decision to omit spinner Yuzvendra Chahal from the squad, with Rahul Chahar getting the nod over the experienced player.
“When they picked Rahul Chahar over Yuzvendra Chahal for the T20 World Cup, they reasoned that he bowls quick which is why we selected him. Shortly after that, Chahal had a very good IPL outing. He took 15-16 wickets in the season (18 wickets in 15 matches). Meanwhile, Rahul Chahar hasn’t played a single game in the World Cup yet,” said Harbhajan Singh.
“To be honest, I don’t accept that Chahar is a better bowler than Chahal. Chahal is a dangerous bowler and the number of matches he has won for the Indian team in the past show for it. And even when you selected Chahar, why didn’t you play him? Ashwin played ahead of him after the first two games. I didn’t understand that thought process. When Ashwin was dropped way back in 2017, you said we need wrist spinners. We brought Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav and they won us many games. Now suddenly, both Kuldeep and Chahal are absent and we are back to Ashwin and Jadeja. I don’t understand this,” he added.
Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman expressed his belief that Team India should attempt to groom a couple of batsmen who can bowl a bit in order to provide the captain the flexibility to use his bowlers.
“The other important aspect is to identify batsmen who can bowl because we’ve seen that if you have the sixth or seventh bowling option, the captain will definitely not be under pressure. We know Hardik Pandya has been struggling with his fitness. So, get a couple of batsmen who can also take two overs, that will be very critical for the World Cup in Australia.” said Laxman while speaking to Star Sports on Game Plan show.
“Yeah I think it is very important to identify a couple of bowlers who bowl quick because the conditions in Australia will be totally different, where I’m not sure the ball will swing too much. But having someone who can bowl quick, extract the bounce and pace of that wicket and at the same time can use the variations because you want someone who can also finish off the innings well with the ball,” he added.
It will be interesting to see how the team management reacts to Team India’s disappointing performance.
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