T Natarajan is left out of the World Cup squad by the selectors. Aakash Chopra believes that BCCI has ignored the recent form of players while selecting the squad for the marquee event. A few in-form players have missed out on the roster for the World Cup in the pace bowling department.
T Natarajan made his debut for Team India in all three formats against Australia in 2020. He had an amazing start to his career but he struggled with injuries later on. He got sidelined because of his injury concerns and since then he found it difficult to make it back to the Indian Cricket Team.
T Natarajan is currently in the race for the purple cap with 13 wickets in just seven matches with an average of 19.38 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He has been bowling the crucial overs for the franchise and has done a very decent job picking up wickets in crucial time of the innings.
T Natarajan’s form ignored by selectors- Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra said that selectors have ignored the in-form bowlers and showed trust in the bowlers who have delivered before. He said :
“There are three fast bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep and Siraj. Once again, the selectors thought they should go on continuity and ignore the recent form. They haven’t gone with recent-form bias or else they should have kept T Natarajan,” he said
“They could have gone towards him, but they said they don’t need him, because Siraj has done well for them earlier, no matter how the current form is. Arshdeep’s form is also not looking very exciting but you will keep him because he has been doing well for the last little while,” the former India opener added.
The selectors have recently picked the squad for Team India for the upcoming World Cup in United States and West Indies. They have picked Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj and Arshdeep Singh to lead the pace attack, ignoring T Natarajan.
Spinners can be game changers- Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra said he was happy to see Yuzvendra Chahal in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup. Four spinners were picked by the selectors which meant only three pacers could feature in the squad to have a good balance. He said that spinners could change the game for Team India :
“You have two like-for-like players in Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Once you picked both of them and then when you want to take Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal along, you would take one fast bowler less, and that’s exactly what has happened. Day games, slightly softer pitches, and big grounds, they can be game-changers,”
“You feel for Yuzi in any case. He has taken 200 wickets in the IPL and the most wickets in T20Is for India but has never got an opportunity in a T20 World Cup. So he will play this time. I am happy for him,” the cricketer-turned-commentator added.
On the other hand Chopra believes if Jadeja and Axar play together than India will miss out on batting depth which is necessary in modern T20 cricket.
Also Read : https://goworldwide.co.in/ipl-2024-reason-why-shubman-gill-misses-out/