“Super squad” - Chahal shares picture with Axar, Kuldeep and Bhuvneshwar from Chinnaswamy Stadium

Team India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has shared a picture with fellow cricketers Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishan Kishan on his Twitter handle. The snap, which features a few others as well, was taken at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

The picture captures the great camaraderie among the cricketers, despite the fact that some have been fighting for the same spot in the Indian team in recent years. Uploading the picture on his Twitter handle, Chahal captioned it as “Super squad”. He also included an image of the Indian flag along with the post.

Axar, along with senior left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, was ruled out of the ongoing Test series in South Africa. Off-spinner Jayant Yadav, who played the Mumbai Test against New Zealand, was hence picked for the South Africa Tests as a back-up spinner to Ravichandran Ashwin.

It remains to be seen whether Axar will find a place in the squad for the ODIs in South Africa, which begins on January 19. There is no official update on his fitness yet. The team for the one-dayers in South Africa is likely to be announced in a day or two as selectors wait on the fitness of Rohit Sharma, who is recuperating from a hamstring injury.

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Will Chahal make it to the Indian team for South Africa ODIs?

31-year-old Chahal has been in and out of the India team of late. Both him and Kuldeep were part of the Indian squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, which was held in July. Chahal also featured in the third T20I against New Zealand in Kolkata as Ashwin was rested. The leggie did a decent job, claiming the wicket of Martin Guptill and conceding only 26 runs in his four overs.

Chahal also made a massive impact in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy, claiming 14 scalps in five matches for Haryana at an average of 15 and an economy rate of 4.35.

The leg-spinner recently opened up on the disappointment of not being picked for the T20 World Cup despite being in good bowling form. He thanked his family for supporting him during the tough phase.

Despite an impressive IPL 2021 season for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Chahal was not retained by the franchise as the two parties could not work out a mutually agreeable financial deal.