Why Yuzi Chahal not playing T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli explains why Rahul Chahar was picked ahead of Yuzi Chahal in India’s 2021 T20 World Cup squad

Virat Kohli explains why Rahul Chahar was picked: The Indian captain was vocal about his bowling department ahead of T20 World Cup.

India captain Virat Kohli believes that a “fully fit” Bhuvneshwar Kumar augurs well for the team ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Kumar, who has played 91 out of his 191 international matches across formats under Kohli, seems to have the captain’s backing despite a couple of inconsistent years in international level.

Kumar’s inconsistency has less to do with his form but more to do with his fitness as multiple injuries has kept him out of action in the recent years. Kumar, who didn’t play any international match last year, has picked 18 wickets in 13 white-ball matches at an economy and strike rate of 5.54 and 25.1 respectively this year.

“He’s [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] back to being at full fitness, which augurs really well for our team. I’m sure with the new ball, he’ll definitely get some kind of assistance through the tournament and, whatever little there’s on offer [for the pacers], Bhuvi knows how to make the maximum use out of that. So, his experience, as I said, is going to be priceless for us,” Kohli said during a media interaction organized by the International Cricket Council on Saturday.

In 20 Indian Premier League matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad which Kumar has played across the last two seasons, his nine wickets have come at an average of 48.22, an economy rate of 7.73 and a strike rate of 37.44.

Virat Kohli explains why Rahul Chahar was picked ahead of Yuzi Chahal

India, who made swapped Axar Patel with Shardul Thakur to make a lone change before the October 15 deadline, now have a spin-bowling less but will still play a world event without spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

Since Chahal’s T20I debut, India have played 72 T20Is with Chahal in the Playing XI on as many as 49 occasions. Only vice-captain Rohit Sharma (51) has played more T20Is than Chahal in this period.

Chahal, who has also been India’s highest wicket-taker in this period on the back of 63 wickets at an economy and strike rate of 8.32 and 18.2 respectively, not finding a place in what would have been his maiden T20 World Cup had perplexed many upon the squad announcement. Kuldeep Yadav (41), who is next on the list of most wickets, is also out of the squad.

A like-for-like replacement for Chahal has been made in the form of Rajasthan and Mumbai Indians spinner Rahul Chahar. Only leg-spinner in a four-member spin attack, 22-year old Chahar is highly likely to start in India’s Playing XI in the world event.

Being asked about selecting Chahar over Chahal, Kohli highlighted the latter’s tendency to bowl at a faster pace working for him as far as pinning Chahal down is concerned. Kohli, who admitted that the decision was “challenging” and “tough”, explained in detail as to why the selection committee thought that Chahar would be better-suited to the conditions at the World Cup than Chahal.

“It was a challenging call, but we decided to back Rahul Chahar for a reason,” Kohli said. “He’s bowled amazingly well in the last couple of years in the IPL and a guy who bowls with pace. He did really well in Sri Lanka when he played recently as well and against England at home, he was someone who bowled those difficult overs. We believed that heading into this tournament, the wickets are going to get slower and slower and guys who are probably going to bowl with a lot more pace as you saw in the later stages of the tournament [IPL] were the ones who were able to trouble the batsmen, those who didn’t give the ball too much air.

“Rahul is someone who has those strengths naturally with him as a legspinner and he’s always someone who attacks the stumps and bowls in areas that can potentially get you wickets at any stage. That is the factor that tipped that balance over to Rahul little bit, not taking anything away from [Yuzvendra] Chahal who has been brilliant when he has played for India. This was a tough call – that’s what picking a World Cup squad is always like. You have a limited number of spots and you can’t potentially have everyone fit into that squad.”