"I never asked anyone why"- Yuzvendra Chahal opened up on 2021 T20 World Cup snub
Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has claimed that he didn't approach the selectors or any senior official to ask why he was left out of last year's T20 World Cup squad.
Quite a few eyebrows were raised when Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy were selected ahead of Chahal.
But the 32-year-old spoke about how focused he was on letting his ball do the talking and dished out a stellar performance in the second half of the IPL 2021 season that was played in the UAE.
Speaking to Sports Yaari, Yuzvendra Chahal expressed his emotions at being left out of the T20 World Cup squad last year. He said:
"I never asked anyone why (about the 2021 World Cup snub) because that's not in my control. Obviously you feel bad that you aren't a part of the World Cup, but they might have thought that someone else was better and fair enough.
"What was in my hands was performing and that's exactly what I did in the second half of the IPL 2021 in the UAE."
Yuzvendra Chahal on emergence as death bowler
Chahal added another feather on his cap during the IPL 2022 season, when he began bowling at the death for the Rajasthan Royals (RR). A wrist-spinner bowling at the death seems to be a risk because of different factors like set batters, dew, etc.
However, the 32-year-old bowled really well in that phase and has begun to do the same for Team India as well. Here's what he had to say about his new role:
"Before heading to the IPL, Rohit Bhaiya told me that I might need to bowl at different stages of the game and even at the death. Rahul sir had also told me to work on my fuller deliveries.
"So when I went to the Rajasthan Royals, I spoke to Sanju and he supported me and said that I will bowl an over at the death, no matter how many runs I go for."
He added:
"I started practicing yorkers on single wicket and used variations like cross seam. I kept on asking the batters how much I was missing the yorker by and all the feedback really helped me."
Yuzvendra Chahal also spoke about how he has been working on bowling fuller deliveries and how it has helped him become more confident as a death bowler. He said:
"I haven't changed much about my bowling over the past year. But yes, bowling at the death in this year's IPL has helped me become more confident.
"I can bowl fuller lengths as well as yorker and that is one thing that I didn't used to execute before."
Will Yuzvendra Chahal be able to spin a web and take Team India to Asia Cup and T20 World Cup glory? Let us know in the comments.