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Not Ashwin or Jadeja, Ganguly names spinner BCCI should ‘keep an eye on’ for World Cup
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly wants BCCI to keep an eye on a spinner for the ODI World Cup 2023.
After a disappointing outing at the World Test Championship (WTC) final, Team India are ready with their next assignment, which is a full-fledged series against the West Indies, that gets underway on July 12. However, considering the bigger picture, the team's main focus will be the ODI World Cup, which is scheduled to be held at home in October-November this year.
In between, India will take part in a bilateral series against Ireland, then the Asia Cup, followed by an ODI series against Australia at home. This will give enough time to Rahul Dravid and the management and assess the players before taking a final call on the squad for the World Cup.
Former India captain and ex-BCCI president Sourav Ganguly made a few interesting points on the same line, where he emphasized the importance of wrist spinners, especially when the World Cup is being played entirely in the country.
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Ganguly listed out a few options but urged BCCI to keep a close eye on Yuzvendra Chahal, who he feels somehow fails to make the cut for big tournaments.
"(Ravi) Bishnoi and Kuldeep (Yadav) are there but (Yuzvendra) Chahal somehow misses big tournaments. He performs extremely consistently in shorter formats, whether it is 20-over or 50-over. It is important to keep an eye on him," the ex-India cricketer told Star Sports.
He then explained the advantage a wrist spinner brings to the table, who he believes will provide an edge against stronger opponents such as Australia, England, or South Africa.
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"When you will play Australia, England or South Africa, a wrist-spinner makes a difference in these conditions. In 2011 there was Piyush Chawla, who bowled well.
"When we went to South Africa in 2007, there also our wrist-spinners bowled well along with the fast bowlers. Harbhajan Singh was in that team. I feel it will be extremely important to keep a wrist-spinner in Indian conditions," he added.
India will get their World Cup campaign underway against Australia on October 8, and the marque clash against arch-rivals Pakistan is set to be played on October 15 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
