On Tuesday, India announced their 15-member squad for the Men’s ODI World Cup 2023. Indian chief selector Ajit Agarkar held a press conference alongside Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and named the players. Big names like Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar could not make a space for themselves in the side that will head for the multi-nation tournament scheduled to start on October 5 in India.
Earlier, Rohit made it crystal clear during the press conference that their side lacks batting depth, and all the selections are made keeping the fact in mind to add players who can add more firepower to batting in the crucial stages of the game.
“We need to create depth which we have been lacking in the last few years and we want to create batting depth, and it shows how important a job it is. If we talk about batting, then number 8 and 9 become crucial,” said the Indian skipper.
The non-inclusion of Yuzvendra Chahal into the squad is a surprise call for many cricket experts. Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has questioned the team management’s call of preferring Axar Patel over Chahal. Kuldeep Yadav is the only wrist spinner who found a place in the squad.
“I feel there was a toss-up between Axar Patel and Yuzi Chahal. I understand you need batting at No. 8, if you have it it’s fine, but what do you do if you don’t have it? Do you actually pick bowlers on the basis of their batting?” said Chopra in a video shared on YouTube.
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Aakash disagreed with Rohit’s point of view on adding more batting strength into the team. He also mentioned that the team could not play Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel together.
‘Disappointed that they haven’t considered the need for Yuzvendra Chahal’
“I am not surprised by the team selection, but I am a bit disappointed that they haven’t considered the need for Yuzvendra Chahal. We can’t play Jadeja and Axar together. There will be situations where you face teams like Australia with many left-handed batsmen, and having an off-spinner option becomes crucial. Unfortunately, the team doesn’t have that now, and it seems like they haven’t thought about it thoroughly. I hope this decision doesn’t come back to haunt them in the future,” said Chopra in a video shared on YouTube.
