Yuzvendra Chahal, Team India leg-spinner was overlooked by national selectors in favour of Rahul Chahar for the T20I World Cup 2021. The cricket star recently revealed on the ‘RCB Podcast’ that he felt ‘really low’ after learning that he had been dropped for the marquee event.
Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja were the spin options for India in the 2021 T20I World Cup, where India was unceremoniously eliminated from the group stage itself after losses to Pakistan and New Zealand.
Yuzvendra Chahal Didn’t Feel Like Eating Anything That Night After Being Omitted From the 2021 T20I World Cup Squad
He recalled that the team was announced a day before he was supposed to leave for Dubai for the second leg of the IPL 2021. Yuzvendra Chahal mentioned how he had never expected to be left out of the tournament.
Yuzvendra Chahal was left out of the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2021, and he wasn’t named in the reserves as well, owing to his poor form in the last six months. Even in phase one of IPL 2021 in India, Yuzvendra Chahal could pick up just 4 wickets in 6 games at a high bowling average and never looked in a good rhythm.
He said: “The team was supposed to be announced at 9:30 and then it got delayed by a bit. I swear I did not know that my name wouldn’t come. When the list came, I did not say anything to anyone for a few minutes.
“My wife was asking me about the announcement and I sent her the screenshot. The dinner had arrived, but didn’t feel like eating anything that night. Felt very low as I wasn’t dropped even once for five years.”
Yuzvendra Chahal’s omission had raised a lot of eyebrows as he was India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is at the time. The team’s T20 World Cup 2021 campaign proved to be an underwhelming one as the Men in Blue suffered a premature group stage exit.
Yuzvendra Chahal, who recently played the ODI series against South Africa. He picked just 2 wickets in the series playing all 3 ODIs. Yuzvendra Chahal, however, has picked up 14 wickets in 8 games in IPL 2021 UAE leg with an excellent economic rate.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s Goal Is To Become The First IPL Bowler To Take 200 Scalps And Play For India For The Next 5-6 Years
The talented bowler also pointed out that he aspires to be with the national side for the next five years or so. When it comes to the IPL, the spinner aims to become the first player to bag 200 wickets in the cash-rich league.
The 31-year-old added: “My goal is to become the first bowler to take 200 wickets in IPL. Moreover, I also want to continue playing for team India for the next 5-6 years.”
Yuzvendra Chahal was not retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the ten-franchise IPL 2022 mega auction. He will be up for grabs from INR 2 crore onwards at the event.
Yuzvendra Chahal has been associated with the RCB since 2014 and picked 139 wickets in 113 games with an economy of 7.58. Even in IPL 2021, he picked 18 wickets in 15 matches with an economy of 7.06. But RCB didn’t retain him ahead of the auction as their three retained picks are- Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, and Mohammed Siraj. In his international career thus far, the 30-year old has bagged 99 and 64 wickets in 59 ODIs and 50 T20Is.