WI v IND 2023: “Whenever he gets to play, he will perform”- Shardul says Chahal not disheartened by lack of opportunities

Yuzvendra Chahal didn't get a chance to play in all 3 ODIs vs West Indies.

India pacer Shardul Thakur spoke on the matter of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal being benched for the three-match ODI series against West Indies and backed him by saying that whenever the Haryana cricketer will get a chance, he’ll perform.

India wrapped the ODI series with a massive 200-run win in the decider which was played on August 1 in Trinidad, thanks to Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson, and Hardik Pandya slamming half-centuries and taking the team to 351/5.

Then Shardul Thakur with four wickets and Mukesh Kumar with 3 rattled the West Indies top order and despite some resistance from lower order, the hosts were bundled for 151 runs to give the Men in Blue the match and the series.

After the match, Shardul Thakur spoke about team management rotating the players around and still Chahal not getting one game in the series. India picked 4 spinners in the ODI squad for the West Indies tour, including all-rounders Akshar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.

Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav played all three games with Kuldeep winning the Player of the Match in the first ODI.

The team management prefer Ravindra Jadeja to be paired with Kuldeep as the first-choice spinner in the build-up for the World Cup at home.

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Chahal, who has picked 24 wickets in 16 matches in ODIs since the start of 2022,  has played only 2 matches in 2023, warmed the bench for the entire series. He has picked up three 4-wicket hauls in the said period in 16 ODIs, the fourth-highest in terms of matches played by India stars since the start of last year.

"We have a very good bench strength. A lot of times, it may happen that someone might not get to play a series or he might miss a few matches. But, Yuzvendra Chahal is a very good player. He has performed well over the years. He has proved himself. Whether or not to play him is the management's call. I can't comment on it a lot," Shardul Thakur said after India’s win in the 3^rd ODI.

'But, the kind of a player he is, whenever he gets to play, he will perform. No doubt about that. He always takes wickets in bunches. His contribution to the team's success all the time. I don't think that not playing one series will demoralize him or dent his confidence. Whenever he has played, he has won matches for India," he added.

Kuldeep and Chahal, who between 2017 and 2019 played 34 matches together, have appeared in the same XI only 3 times since the 2019 World Cup.