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India is currently gearing up for the T20 World Cup in Australia in October. Earlier last year, under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, who took over as the new captain, India went on to become the unbeaten number one team in all the bilateral series, but lost in the Asia Cup like the Mini World Cup and suffered setbacks. The main spin bowler in the series, bowler Yuzwenna Chahal, was underwhelming in the Australian series which ended without an impact.
He was fired in a similar manner before the last 2021 World Cup and has made a comeback by winning the purple cap in the IPL 2022 series and has been selected for this World Cup. But with less than 30 days to go before the World Cup, he was abruptly dropped from the match in Thiruvananthapuram due to his modest performance and Tamil Nadu’s Ashwin was given a chance.
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Ashwin performed amazingly, giving just 8 runs in 4 overs. So let’s take a look at 3 reasons why Ashwin deserves to replace Chahal in the 11-man squad for the World Cup:
1. Current Form: No matter who is a great cricketer, current form is important. Ashwin, who was once a premier spinner and was dropped after 2017, was surprisingly selected for the 2021 World Cup 4 years later due to his consistent performances in the IPL series.
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Even though he didn’t get a full opportunity, he has been in good form after the last World Cup, taking 14 wickets in the 11 matches he has participated in at an excellent economy rate of 5.73. On the other hand, Sahal, who has played 20 matches in the same period, has taken 22 wickets at an economy rate of 7.75.
However, some former players blame Ashwin for not being a wicket-taker. However, Ashwin has more experience of playing in big series on Australian soil, including the 2015 World Cup, than Chahal, who can get wickets if he bowls accurately and puts on pressure like this. So giving priority to him who has good form and experience will give success.
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2. Pakistan – Australia: India, who have been placed in Group 2 of the Super 12 round of the World Cup, will face Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Africa in their league round. We can be sure that the experienced Ashwin will do well against the strong Pakistan and South Africa.
Because he has the ability to blast the left-handed batsmen in general, he will be a challenge for the left-handed batsmen like De Kock, Miller, Rossau, Nawaz, Shaun Maqsood, Khushdil Shah in those 2 teams. On the other hand, Ashwin will suit the Indian team as Sahal can fumble even against left-handed batsmen like Bangladesh’s Saqib Al Hasan.
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3. Batting Depth: Ashwin, who has already proved himself as a good batsman by scoring 5 centuries in Test cricket while Sahal does not know much about batting, played in many matches for the Rajasthan team in the 2022 IPL series with Jos Buttler in the top order and scored his first half-century in his career, scoring 191 runs at an impressive strike rate of 141.48. In that respect he is in good form with the bat and we all know that Australian pitches are not very favorable to spin.
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In such a situation, instead of wasting a spot by picking a batting unknown Sahal, the addition of Ashwin, who is an experienced spinner in good form and also in good batting form, will increase the depth of the Indian batting line-up.
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