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Harbhajan Singh, the former ICC Cricket World Cup winner, has criticised the team selection of India for the upcoming ODI series against Australia, in the build-up to the quadrennial spectacle happening next month. The 43-year-old talked about how Yuzvendra Chahal should have been in the Indian scheme of things in ODIs, while stating that the omission of the leg spinner is beyond his understanding.
For the first two ODIs of the upcoming series against Australia, which will be played in Mohali and Indore, India have picked no recognised wrist spinner in their squad. Kuldeep Yadav, the player of the tournament in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2023, has been given a rest citing workload management, but in his place, the selectors picked Ravichandran Ashwin in the Indian squad, and not Yuzvendra Chahal.
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The third ODI at Rajkot will see all the Indian players, who are picked for the ICC Cricket World Cup next month, make their return, while Ravichandran Ashwin and Washighton Sundar will still keep their place in the squad. This led to Harbhajan Singh making harsh comments on his YouTube channel about the Indian selection policy, which read, as per Times of India, “Yuzvendra Chahal should have been here. He has not been given an opportunity. It is beyond my understanding.”
“Either he has fought with someone or he has said something to someone, I don't know. If we talk only about skill, his name should have been there in this team because a lot of Team India players are resting,” he added.
Harbhajan Singh also spoke about what the upcoming ODI series between India and Australia could shape up to be. He was quoted as saying, “Australia were playing against South Africa and India were playing against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup. Australia are a different team. You will have to be at your best to beat Australia because they have decent batting till No. 7 or No. 8 and they have solid hitters.”
