Asia Cup 2023: AB de Villiers disappointed with Yuzvendra Chahal omission from India Squad

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Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers expressed his disappointment on leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal failing to make the India squad for the Asia Cup 2023, scheduled to start on August 30.

When the Indian squad for the continental show-piece was announced earlier this month, the selectors gave preference to wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and spin all-rounder Axar Patel instead of Chahal.

De Villiers understands why the selectors picked Kuldeep and Axar, but feels a leg-spinner like Chahal, who is very skilful, is a handy option for any team in the limited overs format.

"Chahal has been dropped, selectors making their intentions clear who they will be picking. It's a bit of disappointing drop for me, Yuzi is always very handy and it's great to have the leg-spinning option in your team. We know how skilful he is," de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

The once most fancied pair of Kul-Cha, who were part of the 2019 World Cup squad, have rarely featured together since the last 50-over show-piece tournament.

The 33-year-old, who has been in and out of the side over the last two years, was part of the T20 World Cup squad last year but did not play a single game Down Under as India crashed out of the tournament in the semi-final.

Despite being in the squad, Chahal was unused in the three-match ODI series in West Indies, but played all the five T20Is on the tour. However, the senior leg-spinner was dropped in the subsequent tour to Ireland, where India played two T20Is.

Chahal is also not part of the Asian Games 2023 squad with Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar being preferred spin options. Many former cricketers like Harbhajan Singh and Sourav Ganguly have mixed opinions on Chahal's omission from the Asia Cup squad.

Harbhajan feels Chahal is India's best spinner in white-ball cricket, adding that a few bad games don't make him a bad bowler, while Ganguly backed the selectors in preferring Axar Patel, who is handy with the bat, to the one dimensional leggie.

With the ODI World Cup 2023 set to be held at home, Chahal may get a spot in the squad as the conditions usually favour spinners in India. But that looks very bleak as teams can only name 15-member squads for the show-piece event, scheduled to be held from October 5 to November 19.