Harbhajan Singh suspects backstage drama over Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion

New Delhi: The former Indian cricketing legend, Harbhajan Singh, has given a rather interesting take on the exclusion of veteran spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s recent omission from the Indian squad.

Harbhajan, while speaking to his fans on his YouTube channel, displayed his disappointment over the talented Yuzvendra Chahal from the squad.

“Yuzvendra Chahal should have been here. He has not been given an opportunity. It is beyond my understanding. Either he has fought with someone or he has said something to someone, I don’t know. If we talk only about skill, his name should have been there in this team because a lot of Team India players are resting,” Harbhajan Singh said.

He further criticized BCCI for their lacklustre planning by saying that “First Washington Sundar, who wasn’t in the original Asia Cup squad, was called there. After that, a second player has been added for this series, and that is R Ashwin. So, somewhere or the other, Team India is searching for off-spinners. They have probably realized their mistake that they haven’t picked an off-spinner in the team and that our bowlers can get into trouble if a lot of left-handers come in front of them. Why unnecessarily go through all this? It is beyond my understanding, or they are going to make another mistake to rectify their earlier mistake.”

Harbhajan also asked BCCI to add Chahal into the World Cup squad if Axar Patel fails to get medically cleared on time.

Match winner yuzi https://t.co/DVZxSjeh2V

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) September 19, 2023

Notably, BCCI initially went with the spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel for the Asia Cup and World Cup, but the off-spinner Washington Sundar was added to the Asia Cup finals squad. And now, after giving Kuldeep Yadav rest for the first two ODIs against Australia, BCCI has decided to add R Ashwin into the squad, giving Yuzvendra Chahal, the cold treatment once again.

Ashwin has featured in only two ODIs in the last six years, with his last ODI appearance coming against South Africa in Port of Spain in 2022.