Former India cricketer, Sunil Joshi has chosen Kuldeep Yadav over Yuzvendra Chahal to be included in India’s World Cup 2023 squad, scheduled to be played in India later in 2023. For the unversed, Sunil Joshi was an important part of the Indian team from 1996 to 2001 as a slow left-arm orthodox spinner. He also represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise in a couple of IPL seasons of 2008 and 2009 and was in contact with them till 2010.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed him as an Indian team selector from 2020 to 2022. Coming back to his opinion on Chahal, he reckons 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 games. 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.

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During a chat with ESPNCricinfo, Sunil Joshi said, “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 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.” 

Sunil Joshi explained that there was no doubt that Yuzvendra Chahal was a great bowler, but the latter had probably lost his mojo. Chahal was no longer the wicket-taking bowler for India, and some time off and go back to playing some serious domestic cricket to brush up and fine-tune his skills. 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. 

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Elaborating the same, Sunil Joshi said, “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.”