Asia Cup 2023: Right decision by Rohit Sharma and selectors to pick Kuldeep Yadav ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal: Abhishek Nayar | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: India star spinner Yuzvendra Chahal‘s exclusion from India’s Asia Cup 2023 squad raised quite a few eyebrows. The question – why Kuldeep over Chahal? – started doing the rounds of social media after the latter’s exclusion from the continental event.
Once India’s go-to bowler, there is now a big question mark over Chahal’s inclusion in the ICC ODI World Cup which will be played at home, as well.
The Haryana-born Chahal was excluded from the 2021 T20 World Cup before returning for the 2022 edition in Australia. However, in the 2022 edition, Chahal, the highest wicket-taker for India in T20Is, did not get a single game in the tournament.

(Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)
A quick look at India’s Asia Cup squad this time shows that the Men in Blue will go into the tournament this time without a single right-arm spinner. There are in fact three left-arm spinners in the squad – Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.
Former India cricketer Abhishek Nayar backed captain Rohit for picking Chinaman bowler Kuldeep over Chahal.
“In terms of spinners, they (captain and selectors) have picked the spinners that they feel can do the best for them. Once you reach that level, be it Chahal or Kuldeep, the margin of error is not too much. The margins are very very small. That was the right decision from the captain to pick Kuldeep ahead of Chahal,” Nayar, who is a cricket expert for JioCinema, told TimesofIndia.com in an interview.

India will also be relying heavily on their right-arm pacers. India have excluded left-arm speedster Arshdeep and included Prasidh Krishna, along with Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, and Shardul Thakur in the squad.
Prasidh over Arshdeep – was that the right call?
When asked about this, Nayar said: “The conditions play a big role. If the captain Rohit Sharma is comfortable with the fact that he needs pace, if he thinks that someone can come and bring a different dimension, I don’t see any harm in it. Arshdeep was not in the scheme of things. I truly believe that Prasidh Krishna has the potential to play ODIs and should be backed completely.”
“Arshdeep is a great and bright prospect. Prasidh has the potential to perform on the big stage,” Nayar further told TimesofIndia.com.