Yuzvendra Chahal picked up three wickets in as many T20Is against Sri Lanka.

“Perfect” – Fans react as Yuzvendra Chahal dropped from playing XI in IND vs NZ 1st T20I

Modified Jan 27, 2023 19:47 IST

Yuzvendra Chahal has been dropped from India's playing XI for the first T20I against New Zealand in Ranchi on Friday, January 27. Hardik Pandya and Co. have chosen to play in-form Kuldeep Yadav ahead of the leg spinner.

The development comes amid the right-arm spinner's recent struggles in white-ball formats. So far, he has scalped three wickets in as many T20Is and three scalps in two ODIs this year.

Meanwhile, Kuldeep scalped six wickets in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand. He previously bagged five wickets in two ODIs against Sri Lanka. The 28-year-old has got an opportunity in T20Is this time around after missing out on a place in the last two T20I series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

Fans had different reactions to the team management benching Yuzvendra Chahal.

Here are some of the best Twitter reactions:

Vignesh PEREZ OUT❌️

@ViniciusJrERA

@mufaddal_vohra Why kuldeep in ahead of chahal? Chahal was the first choice in t20 right?

Anu ᴮᴵᴺᴰᵁ 💫

@AnuBindu0

Chahal :-

twitter.com/BCCI/status/16…

BCCI

@BCCI

Ishan Kishan leads the huddle talk in Ranchi

Toss coming up shortly.

#INDvNZ @mastercardindia

Gopu Rajasekar A

@GopuRajasekarA1

@OneCricketApp Picking two off-spinners together in a playing XI is unnecessary. Considering Hooda doesn't get to bowl at all, let alone four overs Chahal could have been selected in his place!

Aryan Sah

@AryanSah03

@the_upadhyayji Chahal to khel nhi rha
Warna powerplay me 120 loading 🙂

Nickil Chopraa

@NickilChopraa

Kuldeep is now clearly India’s No.1 preferred white ball spinner across formats. Chahal seems to have heavily fallen out of favour with the TM. twitter.com/mufaddal_vohra…

Mufaddal Vohra

@mufaddal_vohra

India's playing XI:

Gill, Kishan (WK), Tripathi, Surya, Hooda, Hardik (C), Sundar, Kuldeep, Mavi, Umran and Arshdeep.

Soorya Sesha

@sooryasesha7

Kuldeep's resurgence, coupled with Chahal's dwindling returns, made it hard to leave the former out. Going to be a good challenge for him with dew already setting it from the looks of it #INDvNZ

Etron Lord

@EtronLoard03

@ViniciusJrERA @mufaddal_vohra Kuldeep has been doing good. Plus people has learnt to play chahal well until unless chahal works on some variations. Kuldeep is actually a good choice for white ball.

Gurkirat Singh Gill

@gurkiratsgill

Really happy that India are playing Kuldeep in place of Chahal today. Hope they stick with this for the entire series.

V Karthik

@karkavi27

@ESPNcricinfo Perfect. Chahal not playing and Kuldeep doing... right decision. The most good result was dropping of Prithivi Shaw. He need to proof a bit more like adapting the condition, etc;

Debasis Sen

@debasissen

India elect to bowl first. As expected Prithvi Shaw will have to wait for his opportunity. Kuldeep prefered over Yuzi Chahal.
#INDvsNZ #INDVsNZT20

Meanwhile, former Pakistan off-spinner Danish Kaneria has pointed out that Chahal needs to work on his bowling. Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said:

"Send him to domestic cricket and make him bowl longer. I don’t think he’ll be ready unless he bowls lengthy spells. He is struggling big time. The more he plays four-day games, he will get his rhythm back. He will improve.”

Kaneria added:

“Kuldeep was getting wickets because he was bowling full-length balls. He was able to provide the turn. Chahal was bowling short-length deliveries. There was no turn. Unless your hand rolls and your ring finger comes into play, you won’t be able to ball well. It ends in a full toss whenever he tries to provide a loop. He needs to slow his arm rotation.”

Yuzvendra Chahal dropped as Hardik Pandya and Co. chose to bowl against New Zealand

Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl against New Zealand on Friday. Prithvi Shaw, Jitesh Sharma, and Mukesh Kumar have also been benched for the opening game of the series along with Yuzvendra Chahal.

BCCI

@BCCI

The Two Captains pose with the silverware ahead of the 1st T20I in Ranchi.

#INDvNZ @mastercardindia

After completing a 3-0 whitewash in the ODI series against the Black Caps, Hardik Pandya will look to guide Team India to a third consecutive T20I series win after the T20 World Cup 2022. Team India had previously won the T20I series against Sri Lanka 2-1 and New Zealand 1-0 (away from home).

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Edited by
Ritwik Kumar