Why is Deepak Chahar not playing today’s 1st ODI between India and West Indies in Ahmedabad?

Dixit Bhargav | 06/02/2022
Why is Deepak Chahar not playing today's 1st ODI between India and West Indies in Ahmedabad?

Deepak Chahar not playing: The Indian cricketer has been left out of the Playing XI for the first India vs West Indies ODI.

During the first ODI of the ongoing West Indies’ tour of India in Ahmedabad, India captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and chose to field.

“We will bowl first. Looks like a good pitch, won’t change a lot. Will get better to bat under the lights. I am happy to be back, playing for India, good to be back on the field. It’s been a couple of months since I played cricket,” Sharma told Star Sports at the toss.

“It’s a historic day in Indian cricket, been a long journey for India. We have seen a lot of ups and downs. As a team we have grown over the years, and we’ll continue to do that. We had a few positive Covid cases, so we have some new faces. Deepak Hooda is making his ODI debut.”

West Indies captain Kieron Pollard remained unperturbed at being asked to bat first in what will be the first ODI at the Narendra Modi Stadium after more than seven years.

“The toss is 50-50. We have to assess the conditions and bat well. We have come out well and bring out the results. The guys have to adapt to different scenarios. We had a series a few days ago, so we need some mental adjustment. We need to bat long and rotate the strike,” Pollard told Star Sports at the toss.

Why is Deepak Chahar not playing vs West Indies?

India, who had last played an ODI against South Africa in Cape Town last month, have made six changes to their Playing XI from that match.

Captain Rohit Sharma, batter Ishan Kishan, all-rounders Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur and fast bowler Mohammed Siraj have been included in the place of Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Jayant Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah.

While Rahul is unavailable for this match due to family commitments, Dhawan and Iyer have tested positive for COVID-19. Yadav and Bumrah, on the other hand, aren’t part of the squad for this series.

As far as Chahar is concerned, it’s a bit surprising that India have left him out especially after him contributing with both the bat and ball in the last match. After picking bowling figures of 8-0-53-2, Chahar had scored 54 (34) in a tense 288-run chase albeit in a losing cause.

With Sharma not being asked about the reason behind excluding Chahar, it appears that India decided against playing Thakur and Chahar in the same XI as both of them are similar kind of bowlers. Instead, the hosts have included comparatively faster bowlers in Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
deepak chahar India West Indies West Indies tour of India 2022

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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