Virat Kohli captained India for the final time in T20Is in T20 WC 2021 in UAE.
The tournament was held in the UAE and Chahal had incidentally been in good form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that year, which was also held in the country just a month before the T20 World Cup.
“When I was not picked up for the 2021 T20 World Cup, I felt the saddest. I had to play IPL in Dubai at that time. She (my wife) was with me at that time. The next day, we had to catch a flight to Dubai. We had to go there to continue the IPL matches that were postponed due to Covid. We also had to quarantine for a week. Otherwise, you could have gone out to relax. The best thing was she was with me, so I could control my anger. If she would not have been there, I would have been more frustrated,” Chahal said in conversation with YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia.
Chahal said that he felt strange as he had just played under Virat Kohli for RCB in IPL 2021 in UAE and Kohli was going to captain India in the T20 World Cup, also to be played in UAE, which followed the IPL. And despite this, he was not picked for the Indian squad.
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“She (Chahal’s wife) was with me. We used to exercise together. We watched some chilled-out movies. I was feeling strange because Virat [Kohli] was the captain [of the Indian team] and I was playing under Virat there as well [in IPL]. But I never ask anyone why I was not picked. Have never asked,” he continued.
Kohli had said dropping Chahal and choosing young Rahul Chahar in the rule was a tough call.
"It was a challenging call. We decided to back Rahul Chahar for a reason, he is a guy who bowls with pace. Bowled well in Sri Lanka and England also he was good. The wickets in UAE will be slow and the guys who bowl with some pace, attack with stumps and that is the factor that tipped the balance in favor of Rahul," he had said.
India was eliminated from the T20 World Cup in the league stage itself after they lost to Pakistan for the first time in World Cup events and then lost to New Zealand in the second match.
It was also the last time Kohli captained India in T20Is, as he had announced before the tournament began, that it would be his last time leading the side in the shortest format of the game.
(Hindustan Times inputs)