T20 World Cup 2021: 3 players unlucky to miss out on 15-man India squad
The BCCI on Wednesday announced 15-man India squad for T20 World Cup for the upcoming T20 World Cup to be held in the UAE and Oman.
Ravichandran Ashwin was a surprise inclusion in the squad, while it was also revealed that former India captain MS Dhoni would mentor the side.
While a number of players pick themselves, there are quite a few names that will trigger debates and deliberations.
For starters, the wrist-spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have been left out of the T20 World Cup squad. Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy are set to be the two genuine spinners along with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
T20 World Cup 2021 India Squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (Wk), Ishan Kishan (Wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami
Reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.
Here we take a look at the three players who were extremely unlucky to miss out on India's T20 World Cup squad:
1.) Yuzvendra Chahal
Perhaps the biggest omission from the squad is leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Although his form has tapered off in the recent past and he did not look very convincing in the first phase of IPL 2021, Chahal was back to his best in the just-concluded series against Sri Lanka.
He has the experience and the expertise to be successful in crunch moments and was crucial to India's plans over the years in white-ball cricket. Hence, his absence certainly comes as a surprise.
In 49 T20Is, Chahal has picked up 63 wickets at an average of 25.3 and an economy rate of 8.32. It should be mentioned that he has been the go-to man for Virat Kohli at the Royal Challengers Bangalore and his omission will certainly make headlines.
Also see: Most centuries in T20 World Cup | Most runs in single T20 World Cup | Highest score in T20 World Cup
2.) Prithvi Shaw
Prithvi Shaw has been in dynamic form in India's domestic white-ball competitions and was irresistible even in the first phase of IPL 2021. The young batter looked a million dollars in Sri Lanka when he was absolutely flying in the powerplays, but could not string together scores.
He was called up to India's Test squad in England, but the team seems to have plenty of options as far as openers are concerned in the T20 setup. Hence, Shaw may consider himself unfortunate to miss out.
3.) Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj has been one of the most improved bowlers over the last 12 months and could consider himself rather unlucky not to find a spot in India's squad for the T20 World Cup.
Having impressed in the Tests in Australia, Siraj has been absolutely superb in the longest format in England as well. In the first phase of IPL 2021, the 27-year-old was brilliant with the new ball as he picked up six wickets in seven innings at an economy rate of 7.34.
However, India opted to go with the experience of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, who make a pretty settled pace-bowling contingent.