After being overlooked for Team India’s Asia Cup 2023 and World Cup 2023 squads, senior leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has decided to ply his trade in the ongoing County Championship in England for Kent.
Yuzvendra Chahal has signed up with Kent for 3 first-class matches in the ongoing season – he is expected to feature in Kent’s remaining two home matches, vs Nottinghamshire and vs Lancashire, along with the away match against Somerset.
Chahal wasn’t selected in India’s ODI squads for the ongoing Asia Cup and the upcoming World Cup at home as the selectors went with chinaman Kuldeep Yadav along with two spinning all-rounders in Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s wife, Dhanashree Verma, took to her Instagram story to give confidence to her husband ahead of his new journey with an inspiring message.
“Always so proud of you. You are our legend. Let’s show some more magic,” captioned Dhanashree on her Instagram story.
Check out Dhanashree’s message for husband Yuzvendra Chahal ahead of his County debut
In the statement released by Kent, Chahal said: “This is an exciting challenge for me, playing in English county cricket, and one I’m very much looking forward to.”
The 33-year-old Yuzvendra Chahal has an experience of 33 first-class matches in which he’s taken 87 wickets at an ordinary average of 35. This stint with Kent will give Chahal some time to gain experience in England conditions in red-ball cricket.
Regarding his snub in the Asia Cup and World Cup, former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh opined that Chahal should have been in India’s ODI squads because of his leg-spin variety and experience.
“[Chahal is a] Proven match-winner. Someone who has taken more number of wickets than any other spinner. If he was playing for any other country, he would have thought he would make the playing XI every time. After proving so much, he should have been there in the team,” Harbhajan said.
“Because we have picked two left-arm spinners and they both won’t play the same game together. And it may be so that when the opposition is packed with left-handers, Jadeja may not bowl his overs as you would want someone who can take the ball away from the left-hander.
“I think if you have to play three spinners you should have a left-arm spinner, a legspinner and an offspinner.”
Chahal has 121 wickets in 72 ODIs at an average of 27.
