IND vs SA: 5 Indian players who might miss the bus for T20I series

“Yatra Pratibha Avsara Prapnotihi” – IPL has been true to its slogan of providing opportunities to talented players every year and this year has been no different. With two additional teams coming in 2022, the opportunities have been greater than ever before. While the 15th edition of the Tata IPL will open doors of opportunity for some new and old faces, it will also close the back door of entry into the Indian National team for players who didn’t quite make their opportunities count at the IPL 2022.

As the cricket fans now move on from the IPL fever and unite as one to support Team India, they will be taking on the South Africans for a five-match T20I series starting on the 9th of June. The BCCI and selectors will look to rest a few regular players to manage the workload of the current Indian team’s stalwart players. This means there would be debut caps on sale and opportunities for the promising players who have been standing in line for quite some time now. However, there are five such players who, despite having played for India, would miss the bus to feature in the series against South Africa courtesy of a below-par IPL season.

5. Rahul Chahar

The 22-year-old leggie, Rahul Chahar, was called upon as the main leg-spinner for India at the T20 World Cup in Dubai after a splendid IPL 2021. Rahul has faded away ever since. In the one game that Rahul featured against Namibia in the T20 World Cup 2021, Chahar had a night to forget as he went wicketless and gave 30 runs in the four overs that he bowled. Rahul debuted for India in the T20Is in 2019 under Virat Kohli and had a decent start to his T20 career with bowling figures of 1-27 against the West Indies.

Post the West Indies series in 2019, Rahul again got an opportunity in the T20I series against England, where he was quite below par as per his IPL bowling standards. In bowling seven overs in the two games he featured in, Chahar picked up two wickets and gave away 68 runs at an economy of 8.86 and 9.50 respectively. However, Rahul of Mumbai Indians was back for Team India with four wickets in two innings, giving 42 runs in eight overs against Sri Lanka. He bowled well in the away series against Sri Lanka, where India played their second-string side when the senior team was playing a test series against England.

This time again, India will be playing their B-Team against South Africa, and there will be plenty of chances for the younger folks. However, Rahul might just miss out on the bus with a below-par IPL season. After a few successful games initially, Chahar hasn’t quite been able to deliver with wickets in the middle overs for Punjab Kings. Chahar has the worst strike rate (20) among the Punjab Kings bowlers who have bowled more than 15 overs. Even though Chahar has picked 14 wickets in 13 innings, with the resurgence of “Kul-cha”, who have picked 44 wickets between them in IPL 2022, the chances of another wrist player featuring in the squad for South Africa as a backup would be pretty slim.