"Very surprised with the omissions of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav" - Brad Hogg
Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg expressed his surprise over the exclusions of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav for the T20 World Cup in the UAE. The duo could not make it into the 15-man squad or the reserves for the tournament as India opted to go with 4 finger spinners and a sole leg-spinner.
Hogg, being a wrist-spinner himself, noted that the ability of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep, who primarily bowl slowly through the air and extract turn from the surface, might not work well in the UAE.
The selection committee has stated that Rahul Chahar was picked for his attribute of bowling quicker through the air to get some grip off the wicket. Hogg said:
"I'm very surprised with the exclusion of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. The only reason why I think those two particular players are not in this squad is that they find it very hard to bowl into the wicket, they're more floaty type bowlers and over in the UAE, when things are not turning, when there's not much assistance in the pitch, you need those spinners who can bowl into the wicket."
"If it was any place else in the world, one of those players would have been in the squad and it probably would have been Chahal," Hogg added.
It is to be noted that Chahal had tremendous success bowling in the UAE while bowling for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the previous edition of the IPL.
Could have gone with a pacer instead of Varun Chakravarthy: Brad Hogg on Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav missing out
Brad Hogg discussed India's team combination and feels that they are one pace bowler short. He noted that India will have a hard time if one of the pacers has a niggle and has to sit out for a match or two. Hogg added:
"I still think you need to go with three quicks in the lineup, Jadeja and Pandya as the fifth bowler and one frontline bowler. I think they could have gone with an extra quick and not go with Varun Chakravarthy. You have quality spin bowling in R Ashwin, R Jadeja and R Chahar and Axar Patel as well who can do the job. I think they've gone too far with Chakravarthy."
India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on October 24.