Ahmedabad: India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal on Thursday took a six-wicket haul against Uttarakhand during the Vijay Hazare Trophy after his exclusion from the T20I squad for a five-match series against Australia. Yuzvendra Chahal claimed six wickets conceding 26 runs in 10 overs for Haryana against Uttarakhand in the 50-over domestic tournament. With this stupendous performance, Chahal also completed 200 List A wickets with his fourth wicket in the innings, dismissing Akhil Rawat.
After India’s shocking defeat against Australia in the ICC World Cup 2023 final, all eyes are on the upcoming ICC T20I World Cup to be played in the West Indies and USA in June next year. As expected, the Board for Control of Cricket in India did not pick many senior players in the 15-member squad for the upcoming five T20I series against Australia, which began on November 23.
The exclusion of the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was quite shocking for him and his fans. However, Yuzvendra Chahal hasn't performed up to the expectations since the T20I World Cup 2022 in Australia. Chahal has been quite expensive with the ball and managed to pick only 11 wickets in 11 matches with an average of 28.54 at an economy of 8.72.
In India's five-match T20I series against West Indies, Chahal struggled to pick wickets and took only five scalps, leaking the runs at an economy of 9.05.
Notably, Chahal was picked for the T20I World Cup in Australia, but was on the bench throughout the tournament where India suffered a lop-sided 10 wickets defeat against defending champions England in the semi-final of the ICC T20I World Cup 2022.
In 2021, he missed out on the opportunity to play in his first T20I World Cup after being ignored by the selectors and mystery spinner Varun Chakravorty, who was yet to make a debut for the national side preferred over him.
With all the senior players like Sharma, former captain Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja taking a rest in the T20I series it was expected that experienced Chahal might get a chance. But, the BCCI have decided to go with a new crop of players keeping the long-term goal in mind.
Star India batter Suryakumar Yadav will captain the side, while right-hand batter Ruturaj Gaikwad, who led the Indian team to the gold medal in Asian Games 2023 held at Hangzhou in China, will be vice-captain for the first three T20Is. Shreyas Iyer will join the squad for the fourth and fifth T20I as vice-captain.
India’s squad for five-match T20I series against Australia: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
Note: Shreyas Iyer will join the squad for the fourth and fifth T20I as vice-captain.
India vs Australia T20I series schedule:
1st T20: November 23 in Visakhapatnam
2nd T20: November 26 in Trivandrum
3rd T20: November 28 in Guwahati
4th T20: December 1 in Nagpur
5th T20: December 3 in Hyderabad
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