DTVHINDI
Former India opener Aakash Chopra is surprised to see the name of experienced leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal not in the central contract issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Chopra believes that his not getting a place in the contract list is an indication that the selectors and team management have now moved beyond him.
The BCCI announced the central contracts for the 2023–24 season on Wednesday, February 28. Chahal was one of the prominent names who was not in that list. Apart from them, names of Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav were also not in that list.
Aakash Chopra was surprised to not see Yuzvendra Chahal’s name in the contract list.
Chopra believes that the disappearance of Yuzvendra Chahal’s name from the new contract list is surprising in itself. Chopra said that, “I am a little surprised that Yuji Chahal’s name is not there. Cheteshwar Pujara, Akinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan – their names are not there, I can understand. Even Deepak Hooda for that matter.
But Chahal’s name not being there – what does it mean? It seems they (BCCI) are looking in a different direction. This is proof of that. Maybe he might have seen some ray of hope, but it did not happen. His name is not there.”
The 33-year-old Chahal was a key part of the Indian team in the limited overs format for a few years between 2016 and 2019. Lately, he has been in and out of the team constantly. Chahal has the experience of 72 ODIs and 80 T20Is, in which he has taken 121 and 96 wickets respectively. According to Chopra, bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar had a chance to get a central contract, had he not been ruled out of the match due to his father’s illness, his name would have been there too.
