Did India miss a trick by not playing Yuzvendra Chahal in T20 World Cup semi-finals?

“One of the team’s biggest mistakes was to not play Yuzvendra Chahal in the entire tournament especially today. You saw how effective England’s wrist spinners were.”

These were the words of former selector Sarandeep Singh after India suffered a humiliating 10-wicket defeat to England on Thursday, to exit the T20 World Cup in Australia at the semi-final stage.

For India, it was another heartbreak in yet another major ICC tournament.

Ever since winning the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, under the leadership of MS Dhoni, Team India have failed to lift another since.

Coming into this match, Yuzvendra Chahal had not featured for India through the course of this tournament, with India persisting with spin bowling options in R Ashwin and Axar Patel. Ironically, Chahal has featured more prominently for India in T20Is this year. So for him to be overlooked at the T20 World Cup remains a mystery.

Against England, India’s bowlers were totally outplayed, especially in the powerplay overs. Alex Hales and Jos Buttler started strongly, racing to the 50-run mark in just 4.5 overs, and added 63 runs in the powerplay phase. The duo looked unstoppable, and India bowlers had no answer to stop the English onslaught.

England on the other hand had not one, but two wrist spinners in Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone in the playing XI.

One major difference between the two is that the likes of Ashwin and Axar are more defensive bowlers who are excellent in containing runs, while Chahal, with his deceptive wrist spin, has the ability to not just contain runs, but take wickets for the team.

Chahal’s productive year

So why was Chahal overlooked for the T20 World Cup, again, even when his numbers do make a good reading?

In the IPL this year, playing for Rajasthan Royals, Chahal ended as the tournament’s top wicket-taker, with 27 scalps. He had also been playing T20Is for India on a regular basis this year, only to not feature in the playing XI even once during the T20 World Cup.

To make his absence even more jarring, in 19 T20Is this year, Chahal has taken 21 wickets with four of those coming against England from two matches.

A used pitch like the one at the Adelaide Oval would have offered some assistance to wrist-spinners like Chahal, but given the lack of game time he had during the tournament, Rahul Dravid and the team management may have decided to persist with Ashwin and Axar.

Rashid, though, showed what India missed during England’s chase. He removed the in-form batter Suryakumar Yadav for 14 with a slow legbreak outside off that Surya looked to hit over extra-cover, but he found the fielder at deep cover point.

India missed the trick in not playing a prolific wrist-spinner like Chahal, more so in a crunch game like the semi-final. Playing Chahal would not only have helped monitor England’s run-rate in the powerplay,  but also provided at least one major breakthrough, like Rashid did against India with the wicket of an in-form Surya.

Rashid and Livingstone bowled a combined seven overs between them, and gave away just 41 runs.

‘Should have been your first choice spinner’

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh opined Chahal should have been India’s first-choice spinner.

“I don’t know what are the reasons that a champion bowler (Yuzvendra Chahal) is not in the team. He must have done something to someone that he is not getting a game. With his credentials he should have been your first choice spinner,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by India Today.

Ashwin, in comparison, played all of India’s six games at the T20 World Cup and went wicketless thrice in the tournament. But coming off with no returns in a match like the semi-final could prove costly. And it did.

While Ashwin is known for his variations, Chahal can trick the opposition with his deceptive wrist-spin, and that can be game-changing. With the ball, Chahal would also have offered flight and turn to deceive the batters even more.

But, for Chahal, who was not even in the T20 World Cup squad last year, it was not meant to be this year either. With the big-match pressure once again returning to haunt the Men in Blue, it has shown that wrong decisions made at the wrong time prove costly.

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