Sunil Joshi reveals he would pick Kuldeep Yadav over Yuzvendra Chahal in India's World Cup squad

Former India cricketer and former BCCI selector Sunil Joshi has chosen Kuldeep Yadav over Yuzvendra Chahal to be included into India's squad for the upcoming all-important ICC 50-overs World Cup, scheduled to be played in India later in 2023.

For the unversed, Sunil Joshi was an important part for the Indian team from 1996 till 2001 as a slow left-arm orthodox spinner. He  also represented the Royal Challengers Banaglore franchise in the IPLs of 2008 and 2009 and was in contract with them till 2010. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had appointed him as an Indian team selector from 2020 till 2022.

Coming back to his statement regarding Chahal, he feels that the leg-spinner is going through a phase where he is not getting to play much. Yuzvendra Chahal has not played much in recent times with the management preferring Kuldeep Yadav in the limited-overs matches. Joshi reckoned that the leggie from Haryana should ask the team to release him in order to play a few domestic matches in order to get some game time in the middle.

“Over a period any bowler will go through that phase. Probably Chahal is in that phase. Someone like Chahal, who is not able to get game time in the middle, probably he should request the team management to go and play domestic cricket. Match time is very important for him to get back into form. That should be the ideal preparation for Chahal.” the 52-year-old said in a video released by ESPNcricinfo.

Joshi explained that there was no doubt that Yuzvendra Chahal was a great bowler. But he believed that the 32-year-old had probably lost his mojo. Chahal was no longer the effective bowler he used to be for which the Indian team used to rely on him, and it was about time if Chahal wanted to get back as to being the go-to bowler for team India, he could take his time off and go back to playing some serious domestic cricket to brush up and fine tune his skills.

Kuldeep has to prepare himself for the World Cup, says Sunil Joshi

Joshi exclaimed a clear-cut "No", when he was asked if he would want to have Yuzvendra chahal in his Indian squad for the upcoming World Cup to be played in India. He further went on to add that he would prefer Chahal's spin twin Kuldeep Yadav into the squad, as the latter off late has been very effective with the ball and his fielding skills have also improved.

“Kuldeep Yadav is in a space where he is absolutely fine. He needs to be more consistent. He needs to be looking at the tactical part. He needs to know how he will approach each team and venue. The World Cup is in India but every venue has a different dimension, in terms of pitch, soil and climate. He has to prepare himself accordingly.” he concluded.

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