Aakash Chopra explains why Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are missing from India’s T20I setup

The Indian team has shifted their focus on the road-map for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia. They began by beating the current defending champions West Indies 3-0 in their own backyard and will now face South Africa at home. The first T20I of the three-match series was washed out in Dharamsala.

The BCCI selection committee had omitted some known names from the squads for these two T20I series. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Kuldeep Yadav were some of the prominent names missing from the West Indies series; out of which Hardik has made his comeback. But remaining ones are still on the bench with Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah being rested and the spin twins were not considered.

Aakash Chopra says aggressive batting approach led to Kuldeep and Chahal being dropped

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav had cemented their spots in the Indian team as the selection panel went for an overhaul in the aftermath of ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and have been the main reasons behind India’s rise as a limited-overs powerhouse. However, their performances in the World Cup 2019 left much to be desired and former India opener Aakash Chopra explained why the duo is not in plans of selectors.

“The idea is if you have that much depth in batting you bat a certain way. You can’t bat conservatively if you have that kind of depth. That is what England did. They changed the template completely. They focused on batting deep as they wanted to score 400 (in ODIs) and they achieved it many times,” Chopra was quoted as saying by India Today.

Captain Virat Kohli admitted that the team is trying out Rahul Chahar, Washington Sundar and other all-rounders who can handle the bat as well in order to add depth to the batting order and this is where Kuldeep and Chahal missed out on selection. Chopra felt if the team decides to compromise on its wicket-taking ability, then it would want big runs.

“It looks India is wanting to take the same aggressive approach in T20s and there is nothing wrong in that. Now, they need to start showing the intent of scoring 220 consistently. Batting till 8, 9 and 10 is still ambitious (as you don’t need them at all in a 20 over game) but if you are trying to score 220 it is fine,” he explained.

Chopra also predicted that Chahal will make a comeback in the team in future given that Rahul Chahar is a pure bowler, while Sundar batting at no.8 may not suit the plans.

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