Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has named Yuzvendra Chahal as one of the key players for India in limited-overs cricket and is hoping for his inclusion in the squad for the ODI World Cup in October.
The showpiece tournament is set to take place across ten venues in India, starting October 5, with defending champions England taking on runners-up New Zealand in Ahmedabad.
Ganguly said having a leg-spinner in the team can always be useful despite the Men in Blue having varied options to fill a spinner's slot. He also said that the management must not overlook Chahal and Kuldeep as their bowling styles give India a much-needed edge against opponents.
"I feel India have to find a wrist-spinner for this World Cup. Jadeja is there, Ravichandran Ashwin is there, Axar Patel is there, who according to me is also an exceptional all-rounder. (Ravi) Bishnoi and Kuldeep (Yadav) are there but (Yuzvendra) Chahal somehow misses big tournaments. He performs extremely consistently in shorter formats, whether it is 20-over or 50-over. It is important to keep an eye on him as well," Ganguly said during a show on Star Sports.
Chahal played 8 matches in the 2019 ODI World Cup, getting 12 wickets to his name. However, he failed to make it into the squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup and also, did not feature in any match in the 2022 T20 World Cup for India.
Ganguly stressed the importance of having a wrist spinner in matches against heavyweights of the cricketing world.
"When you will play Australia, England or South Africa, a wrist-spinner makes a difference in these conditions. In 2011, there was Piyush Chawla, who bowled well. When we went to South Africa in 2007, there also our wrist spinners bowled well along with the fast bowlers. Harbhajan Singh was in that team. I feel it will be extremely important to keep a wrist-spinner in Indian conditions,” he concluded.
