Former India captain Sourav Ganguly reckons veteran leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal can play a pivotal role for the Men in Blue in the upcoming 2023 ODI World Cup. Chahal, India's primary spinner in white-ball cricket since 2017, has surprisingly not played even a single match in the previous two T20 World Cups. In 2021, the veteran leggie was not picked in the squad while in 2022, he was selected in the squad but didn't get to play even a single match.
Even Ganguly remains a little perplexed about how Chahal missed out on all major matches. But the ex-India captain exuded confidence in the leg-spinner's ability and what he can bring to the table for India when the quadrennial mega event kicks off in October later in the year.
"(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," the ex-India cricketer told Star Sports.
The former BCCI president further explained the importance of having a leg-spinner against teams like Australia, South Africa and England. Ganguly cited examples from India's squads of the past ODI World Cup that usually had at least one leg-spinner in it.
"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," Ganguly opined.
"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 added.
Meanwhile, the ODI World Cup will begin on October 5 with the final of the competition scheduled to be played on November 19.
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