New Delhi: Moving past the heartbreaking loss in the ICC World Cup 2023, the BCCI selection committee led by the chief selector Ajit Agarkar on Monday announced the 15-member team for the upcoming T20i series against Australia, starting November 23.
However, despite giving many senior players rest for the series, there was one name whose exclusion left everyone dumbstruck, i.e., the name of Yuzvendra Chahal.
In all this chaos, we all have forgotten that Yuzvendra Chahal is not even in the Australia T20I series.
One of the most unlucky man 💔. pic.twitter.com/MN3OPy6Nku
— Vishal. (@SPORTYVISHAL) November 20, 2023
With frontline spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja reportedly getting rest, everyone expected the veteran Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal to make a return to the team after getting excluded from the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup squad earlier this year.
However, when BCCI announced the team on Monday, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi, were preferred over Chahal.
The question has now started to make its rounds, that what wrong has Yuzvendra Chahal done to get the cold shoulders from the BCCI selection committee?
Chahal responds
After getting excluded from the squad, Chahal shared a cryptic message on his X (Formerly known as Twitter) page. He posted a smiling emoji, which can be deciphered as him accepting fate in a positive way and not being heartbroken over it.
😊
— Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) November 20, 2023
Interestingly, Chahal shared a similar type of post after getting excluded from the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup squad, where he posted two emoji, one in which the sun is being covered by clouds, followed by one in which the sun is shining bright.
⛅️——> 🌞
— Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) August 21, 2023
Everyone translated it to the times are bad right now, but there are always good times to follow.
However, what is the exact meaning of these emojis can only be described by Yuzvendra Chahal himself, which is an unlikely scenario to come true.
Surya Kumar Yadav to lead
Number 1, T20i batsman in the ODI ranking, Surya Kumar Yadav, has been named captain in the absence of regular captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Hardik Pandya, for the T20i series against Australia, starting from November 23.
No. 1 T20I batter Surya Kumar Yadav appointed captain of IND vs AUS series. Rohit, Bumrah, Virat rested. #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/qi32FUhGGR
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) November 20, 2023
Chennai Super Kings star and Asian Games gold medal-winning captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has been named Surya’s deputy for the series.
Shivam Dube has been rewarded for his exceptional IPL and Asian Games run, while Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar have also been given a chance in the team.
On the other hand, Australia has also given rest to its regular captain, Pat Cummins, and the hard-hitting southpaw Mathew Wade is named the stand-in captain for the series.