Star leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was not selected for Asia Cup 2023, on which every cricket expert has different opinion. The reason behind Chahal’s non-selection is believed to be his easy batting. Akshar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav are way ahead of them in this matter…
Cricket expert’s opinion on Chahal
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced its 17-member squad for the Asia Cup 2023. The 18th player in the squad will be wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson, who has been included as a backup. But the most surprising thing is that there is no name of Indian star leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in this team. Every cricket expert has a different opinion about this. Some are saying that Chahal’s non-selection is right and some are wrong.
Bad batting cost Chahal
During the announcement of the Indian team, Captain Rohit Sharma himself told the reason for Chahal’s non-selection in the press conference. Rohit said that the team needs such a bowler who can bat at number 8 and 9 as well. Due to which Akshar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav went ahead and Chahal was left behind.
Along with this, Rohit said that the spinner cannot be chosen instead of the fast bowler as the fast bowler is going to play an important role in the next two months. In such a situation, you can clearly understand that Chahal’s boat has sunk due to his inability to bat. Although Chahal is a specialist bowler, but not much can be expected from him in batting. But if we look at the figures, Chahal’s record looks worse than that of Akshar and Kuldeep.
Chahal’s record is not good in ODIs
If we look at Chahal’s batting record in ODI format, it looks very bad. He has played 72 ODIs so far in which he has scored only 77 runs at an average of 8.55. Meanwhile, Chahal’s bat lasted 14 innings and his highest score was 18 not out, which he made against New Zealand in 2019.
Chahal has batted at number 9, 10 and 11 in the ODI format. Among them, Chahal’s performance at number 10 has been the best. While batting at this position, Chahal has scored 49 runs in 7 innings. If Chahal has to beat Akshar and Kuldeep in terms of selection, then there will have to be some improvement in batting.
Akshar-Kuldeep are far ahead in batting
At the same time, the batting record of Akshar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav has been excellent in comparison to Chahal. Both have the ability to win matches when given a chance, especially Akshar. Left-handed batsman Akshar has scored 413 runs in ODI cricket at an average of 18.77 in 52 matches. Akshar got a chance to bat in 32 innings of 52 matches, taking advantage of which he also scored two half-centuries. Kuldeep’s batting record is also better than Chahal. In ODI cricket, Kuldeep scored 164 runs in 31 innings of 84 matches. Meanwhile, his average was 11.71.
