T20 World Cup 2024: Will Yuzvendra Chahal Find A Place In India Playing XI?

After being picked up in India’s 15 Man-squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, the major question for every Indian fan is whether the bowlers who have taken the most wickets in IPL history while playing 13 editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) would be part of playing 11 for Men in Blue in the opening match of the ongoing tournament against Ireland? Yes! We are talking about one of the best leg spinners from the Indian team, Yuzvendra Chahal, who is yet to make his debut in the shortest format of the game in the ICC events after being picked up last year, he didn’t get any chance to play. But after his impressive performance in the 17th edition of the IPL, where he was among the list of highest wicket-takers from Rajasthan-based franchise, he made a comeback to the Indian team for the marquee even along with Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav in the spin squad. 

However, it’s not the first time Chahal has been picked up in the squad for the Indian team and there is a doubt whether he will be part of playing 11 or not as it has already happened several times with the star leg spinner, where his presence was ignored. Through this article, we are going to read whether Chahal will be part of India’s playing 11 in the game against Ireland.

Yuzvendra Chahal is one of the senior spinners, who has had the most experience when it comes to bowling in the 20-overs format from different teams. You might not be aware that he is the first bowler to have more than 200 wickets to his name, which he achieved in the recently finished Indian Premier League season by picking the wickets of Afghanistan's nation batsman Mohammed Nabi in the game against Mumbai Indians in Jaipur. 

Despite having an incredible record in the shortest format of the game, the star spinner hasn’t been given many chances in the playing XI as in the last year, T20 World Cup 2022, the Indian team went with a spin combination of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel in the playing 11 in spite of knowing that it becomes easy to face them on Australian ground, which are having big boundaries. Before the T20 World Cup 2022, the leg-spinner impressed everyone with his efficient bowling in IPL 2021, for which he was named in India’s 15-man squad along with mystery spinner Varun Chakrawarthy and Rahul Chahar. However, again, this year he didn't get a chance to play a single match for the Indian team despite performing well in the Indian Premier League, where he picked the most wickets in IPL from the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

If we look at Yauzvednra Chahal's records, he definitely deserves a place in the playing 11 of the Indian team in the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup as he can be a bowler for Men in Blue, who can pick wickets during the middle over phase with his googlies and play a crucial role along with Kuldeep Yadav to stop the flow of the runs and put pressure on batman to go for lofted shorts.

Let's look at the 15-Men Squad of the Indian team:

Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

India will be going with 2 spinners against the weak teams whereas, against teams like Australia, South Africa and England, the Indian team can go with an extra all-rounder along with Vice-captain Hardik Pandya, who can bowl his 4 overs spell during the match. So Rohit and com. can replace Axar in the place of Chahal for some matches to get some depth in batting order. However, Chahal's current form and his sharp skills to read the batsman's mind will play a key role for the Indian team in the tournament.

Whereas in some games, the Indian team can be seen going with only 1 spinner against the team that plays well against spinners as it will help them to give a chance to all-rounder Shivam Dube, who is playing his first T20I World Cup after an impressive performance in the concluded Indian Premier League.

India will be playing their first match of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup on June 5th, 2024, against Ireland at New York Cricket Stadium.