T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli answers on Rahul Chahar's selection over Yuzvendra Chahal

The exclusion of Yuzvendra Chahal in Team India's T20 World Cup squad did not go down well with the fans who have raised questions over selectors decisions. Chief selector Chetan Sharma had cited the need for spinners who can bowl fast as the reason while talking about Yuzvendra Chahal not making it to the team. However, the leg spinner had a point to prove which he did by allowing the ball to do all the talking during IPL 2021 UAE leg.

The recently concluded IPL 2021 UAE was nothing short of exceptional for Chahal with the 31-year-old getting back among wickets which took RCB into the playoff.  Despite such an amazing performance Yuzvendra Chahal still could not force his way into the T20 World Cup squad and Team India skipper Virat Kohli revealed the reason why Rahul Chahar managed to retain the place despite not so great time during the UAE leg.

T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli on why Rahul Chahar was preferred over Yuzvendra Chahal

R Ashwin inclusion into the T20 World Cup team had raised eyebrows but what was even more surprising was Yuzvendra Chahal's exclusion. Team India skipper Virat Kohli recently revealed the reason behind Rahul Chahar finding a place in the T20 World Cup squad over Chahal. The skipper said, "It was a challenging call but we decided to back Rahul Chahar for a reason. He has bowled amazingly well over the last couple of years in the IPL. A guy who bowls with pace, he did really well in Sri Lanka and against England at home as well, he was someone who bowled those difficult overs," 

He further added "We believe going on in this tournament, the wickets are going to get slower and slower, so guys who bowl with pace will be able to trouble the batters as compared to those who give it air. Rahul definitely has those strengths naturally as a leg-spinner. He is someone who always attacks the wickets, that is the factor that tilted the thing in favour of him. Picking a World Cup is always tricky and you cannot always have everyone in that squad," 

Team India squad for T20 World Cup

India will play their opening match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24, at the Dubai International Stadium. India finds itself among Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Pakistan in Group 2 of the tournament. Here's a look at the Team India T20 World Cup squad.

Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami

Stand-by players: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel

Net-bowlers: Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Harshal Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Venkatesh Iyer, Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed and K. Gowtham