Rahul Chahar vs Yuzvendra Chahal

Picture Credit: Twitter

After looking at India's 15 member squad, everyone was shocked to see the decision of dropping Yuzvendra Chahal, who is India's leading wicket-taker in T20Is. Rahul Chahar was selected in T20 WC squad ahead of the experienced campaigner Chahal, considering the recent form of both the players. Let us take a look at two important reasons as to why Rahul Chahar was selected ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal in the Indian T20 World Cup squad.

1. Number of wickets in T20 Cricket since 2019

Yuzvendra Chahal has picked 75 wickets while Rahul Chahar has picked 74 wickets in T20s since 2019, but Rahul Chahar has played less number of matches as compared to Chahal.

Yuzvendra Chahal in T20s since 2019:

Matches: 74
Wickets: 75
Bowl Avg: 28.65
Bowl S.R: 21.8
Bowl Eco: 7.88
Best: 4/38 vs MI, 2019

Rahul Chahar in T20s since 2019:

Matches: 59
Wickets: 74
Bowl Avg: 21.51
Bowl S.R: 17.5
Bowl Eco: 7.36
Best: 5/14 vs Madhya Pradesh, 2021

From the above numbers, it is clear that Rahul Chahar has been better than Yuzvendra Chahal in terms of wickets per innings, average, S.R & economy.

2. Chahal's poor form with the ball in T20Is since 2020

Since the start of 2020, Yuzvendra Chahal has played 13 T20I matches. However, he performed well only in 1 T20I match against Australia at Canberra in 2020.

Yuzvendra Chahal in T20Is since 2020:

Innings: 13
Wickets: 11
Bowl Avg: 41.36
Bowl S.R: 27.8
Bowl Eco: 8.92

With just 11 wickets at an economy of almost 9, Chahal's performances didn't help his cause to get selected for 2021 T20 WC.

Rahul Chahar's good performance for MI in IPL 2021, and his performance in SL T20I series in 2021 has earned him a spot in WT20 2021.

Rahul Chahar has been 3rd highest wicket-taker in 1st phase of IPL 2021. Rahul Chahar won 2 games single handedly in IPL 2021 with the help of his skillful bowling to defend a moderate total. (Recorded 4/27 vs KKR & 3/19 vs SRH with the ball in IPL 2021)

In the SL series, when India had a very tough job to defend a low total of 81, he was the only bowler to take wickets with the ball. Though SL won the match by 7 wickets, Rahul Chahar's 3/15 made the job more difficult for Sri Lanka batsmen to chase down a below-par total of 82 runs.