3 reasons why Yuzvendra Chahal's exclusion from India's Asia Cup 2023 squad is the wrong move

Yuzvendra Chahal missed out as India named their 18-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup. Kuldeep Yadav was the lone wrist-spinner in the squad while Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel were included as the two finger spinners.

The exclusion of Yuzvendra Chahal did come as a big surprise and as per chief selector Ajit Agarkar, the composition of the side was such that only a single wrist-spinner could be included.

However, Chahal and Kuldeep have had tremendous success together and considering the fact that the tournament will be played in the sub-continent, Chahal’s exclusion does come as a big surprise.

Here we take a look at three reasons why Yuzvendra Chahal's exclusion from India's Asia Cup 2023 squad is the wrong move:

#3 Experience in big tournaments

Yuzvendra Chahal was a top performer in ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

Yuzvendra Chahal is an experienced player who played an important role in the 2019 World Cup. He has the understanding of Sri Lankan-conditions and has been part of several India sides to tour the island nation.

Chahal had a decent IPL, but was not at his best in the T20 series against West Indies. This saw Kuldeep leapfrog him in the ODI series, but the leg-spinner is a proven performer in crunch situations and he will feel disappointed having missed out.

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#2 Can bowl across phases in ODI cricket

Chahal has been versatile for India

Yuzvendra Chahal, who was India's lead spinner in white-ball cricket a couple of years ago, has fallen out of favour in the recent times. It should be mentioned here that he has played just a couple of matches this year out of the 12 India has played.

However, he was in excellent form last year where he picked up 21 wickets in 14 games and had three four-wicket hauls. He had a good economy rate as well and these numbers prove it was a tough call to drop the leg-spinner.

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#1 Consistent numbers

Chahal has fallen behind Kuldeep in the pecking order

Yuzvendra Chahal's form remains steady and impactful and has not really seen a dip. In 30 T20Is since 2022, he has picked up 32 wickets, with an economy rate of 8.01.

In 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, he was the tournament's leading wicket-taker with an impressive tally of 27 wickets in 17 matches. In 2023, he picked up 21 wickets in 14 games with an economy rate of 8.17.

In 72 One Day International (ODI) appearances, he has claimed 121 wickets, with an average of 27.13 and an economy rate of 5.27. In six innings in Sri Lanka, Chahal has found good success – he has picked up 10 wickets with an economy of 4.83.

These numbers prove that Chahal has been a consistent performer for India in white-ball cricket and despite the improvement in Kuldeep Yadav, Chahal deserved to be in the squad for the Asia Cup as well as the World Cup slated to be held later this year.