Yuzvendra Chahal is only legit wicket-taking option: Aakash Chopra assesses India's T20 World Cup squad
India Today
T20 World Cup: Former opener Aakash Chopra pointed out that R Ashwin and Axar Patel are defensive spinners with Yuzvendra Chahal being the only legit wicket-taking option in India's squad.
Former opener Aakash Chopra believes that Yuzvendra Chahal is the only legit wicket-taking spin option in India's 15-man squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, scheduled to be held in Australia. India picked three spinners- Chahal, R Ashwin and Axar Patel- in their 15-man squad for the ICC tournament.
However, Chahal was far from impressive with the ball in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022. Chahal failed to create impact and was able to take only four wickets in as many matches at an economy rate of 7.93.
Chopra said Ashwin and Axar are defensive options looking at their record in recent times.
"You have picked three spinners - an offspinner, a legspinner and a left-arm spinner. So you have picked different-different options but Yuzi Chahal is the only legit wicket-taking option in T20 cricket," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
"The others are defensive options - make no mistake, that is the truth. You can see the numbers for the last 12 months, IPL included for both of them - Axar and Ravichandran Ashwin," he added.
Chopra further pointed out that the Indian selectors could have picked Ravi Bishnoi or Kuldeep Yadav in the T20 World Cup squad as the two spinners are attacking bowlers.
"Ravi Bishnoi was a tempting option available to you. You are not thinking about Kuldeep at all, which is slightly disappointing, but he could also have been a wicket-taking option. But you didn't think about either of them.
