In a pre-tournament chat organised by ICC, Virat Kohli talked about the inclusion of R Ashwin and the decision of picking Chahar over Chahal.
BCCI pulled one out of the hat last month when they announced Team India's squad for the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 leaving out their first-choice leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and they preferred Rahul Chahar in the main 15-player squad.
Talking about the same during the squad announcement conference, Chairman of Selectors Chetan Sharma had said, "You want a spinner who can deliver with more speed. Recently we have seen Rahul Chahar bowling with speed. Our view was we need a spinner who can find the grip off the surface at a quicker speed and while we had a lot of discussion on Chahal, we eventually went with Rahul Chahar."
Chahal was one of the leading wicket-takers in the second half of the recently concluded IPL 2021 taking 14 wickets in eight games and wasn't considered when BCCI announced ther final squad making one change, bringing in Shardul Thakur in place of Axar Patel.
Asked about the same during the captain's call organised by the ICC ahead of the tournament, skipper Virat Kohli said, "It was a challenging call but you know we decided to back Rahul Chahar for a reason. He's bowled amazingly well in the last couple of years in the IPL. A guy who bowls with pace and he did really well in Sri Lanka recently when he played. And against England at home he was someone who bowled those difficult overs.
"You know we believe that heading into this tournament, the wickets are going to get slower and slower and guys will probably bowl with a lot more pace as you saw in the later stages of the IPL tournament as well. Those who troubled the batsmen were the ones who probably didn't give the ball too much air and Rahul definitely has those strengths naturally with him as a leg spinner. And you know he is someone who always attacks the stumps and bowls in areas that potentially can get your wickets at any stage. That is the factor that tipped the balance over towards Rahul a little but not taking anything away from Chahal. I think he's been brilliant when he's played for India. This was a tough call you know, that's what picking a World Cup squad is always like. You have a limited number of spots and you can't potentially have everyone fit into that," Kohli further said.
India will play two warm-up games, against England and Australia on October 18 and 20 respectively before starting their campaign against Pakistan on Sunday, October 24.
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 "Rahul Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal")
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