Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh can’t get over the surprise at leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion from India’s provisional squad for the ODI World Cup beginning on October 5.
On Tuesday following the squad announcement, Harbhajan had been quite baffled to not see Chahal among the players. “Surprise not to see @yuzi_chahal in the World Cup squad for Team India. pure Match winner,” he had posted on X.
During a virtual news conference organised by Star Sports Network on Thursday, Harbhajan said: “Chahal is a proven match-winner, someone who has taken more number of wickets than any other spinner. And if he was playing for any other country, I think he would have been in the playing XI all the time.”
Harbhajan sounded a tad sceptical of the role Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel — both left-arm orthodox spinners — could play in this World Cup. “The two left-arm spinners we’ve chosen will never play in the same match. The day Jadeja plays, Axar won’t. And it’s also possible that when there are a lot of left-handers in the opposition, Jadeja may not bowl much.
“On that particular day, you need a bowler who can take the ball away from the left-hand batters. Also, we aren’t sure how many chances (left-arm chinaman bowler) Kuldeep Yadav will be getting.
“Besides, when you are picking three spinners, it should be a combination of a left-armer plus an off-spinner or a leg-spinner. I’m astonished when you are neither picking a leg-spinner nor an off-spinner, and taking two left-armers instead,” Harbhajan, a member of the 2011 World Cup-winning team, said.
Pakistan's former pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who was also present at the virtual meet, said it was beyond him as to why Chahal wasn’t picked. “Not picking Chahal is beyond me,” Shoaib said.
“The problem with India is that when they get all out for 150 or 200, they will increase the number of batters but never the bowlers. If the top-five in your line-up can’t contribute, what will Nos.7 and 8 do? I literally believe that India have gone in with one bowler less,” Shoaib pointed out.
Left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh, too, deserved a place in the Cup squad as he can shape the ball back into the right-handed batsmen, which gives him an edge, Harbhajan, who has 269 ODI wickets, said.
SKY impact
Suryakumar Yadav is yet to make a mark in the ODI format, but Harbhajan backs him to play an impactful role in the middle order. “SKY is a complete package.
“In the number where he bats, I don’t think there’s any other better player than him. What he can do in that No.5 or 6 position, not even Virat (Kohli), Rohit (Sharma), or any other can do. It’s like how (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni and Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) used to do the job,” Harbhajan remarked.
Close contest
Pakistan’s enterprising showing recently has made Shoaib believe that beating them in this World Cup in India is going to be very tough.
“Beating India in India is going to be the most impossible thing. But beating this
Pakistan team in India or on the subcontinent is going to be close to impossible,” Shoaib said.
