There is an unwritten rule in sports. Never write anybody off. A player may be down for a bit, and out of public view for a while. But if he or she maintains intensity in training and practice, executes plans while playing, and retains the hunger to succeed, it becomes difficult to overlook them.
A case in point is Yuzvendra Chahal. An indispensable member of India’s white-ball teams until about six months ago, he has been dispensed with since. There was no place for him in the World Cup squad. And despite being India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is, the leg-spinner is not considered for this format at present either.
That’s understandable. Chahal is 33. Age-wise, that’s not a problem, but it means that the selectors are also looking at alternative wrist-spin options. This is the time to try out who they think is the future and invest in them. There is a T20 World Cup coming up in the West Indies and the USA six months from now. Ravi Bishnoi is getting that chance. Kuldeep Yadav will certainly be in the mix when players are short-listed.
Under the circumstances, Chahal has been doing the best that he could have. He has taken 18 wickets in eight matches in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. This makes him third in the list of wicket-takers for the tournament. Chahal’s performances have been a key factor in Haryana’s passage to the semi-finals. His economy rate is 3.70 and figures of 6-26 against Uttarakhand are the best of the tournament.
What have performances in the 50-over format got to do with an upcoming T20 World Cup? Nothing. But it shows what kind of shape a performer is in. It indicates how motivated one is. How much behind-the-scenes hard work he or she is doing? What kind of effort is being made to sharpen skills? Left out after having been a star, it shows that there is still fire in that Chahal belly.
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One of the more conventional leg-spinners in the T20 world, who comes up with tosses, tricks and turns instead of the contemporary methods of being faster and flatter with minimal spin, Chahal had a quiet but satisfactory outing in the national T20 championship for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy also. Haryana did not make it to the knockouts, but he took 11 wickets in seven matches with an economy rate of 5.82.
It’s important to experiment and give youngsters a long enough run. That’s what is being done with Bishnoi. At the same time, it’s obvious that performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) before the T20 World Cup will influence opinions when it comes to selecting the squad for the marquee event India have not won after the first edition in 2007. It will be like fresh evidence, which can overshadow what one did against South Africa and Afghanistan.
The former chess player has got his act right by keeping himself in perfect shape for the IPL. Irrespective of how the players fare in the handful of T20Is remaining before the World Cup, what kind of impact they make in the IPL should have a bearing on the selection of the squad.
Chahal, who moved to Rajasthan Royals after many successful years in Bangalore, has done his best after falling out of India reckoning. Kuldeep and Bishnoi are the front-runners at the moment. They have enviable T20I records as well. But things change rapidly in this format. If fit, which he normally is, Chahal will give it his best in the IPL and see how it goes.