India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl against arch-rival Pakistan in the high-voltage clash of the Super 12 stage of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne on Sunday. During the toss, Rohit revealed that India will not be playing Yuzvendra Chahal as R Ashwin will be playing against Men in Green. There are four left-hand batters in Pakistan playing XI and thus Indian team opted for an off-spinner. However, this decision was not taken well by Indian cricket fans and they flooded Twitter with reactions.
Also Read: India vs Pakistan T20 Match LIVE Cricket Score and Updates: Golden duck for Babar Azam as Arshdeep Singh takes big wicket
Here are some reactions on Yuzvendra Chahal not playing today's match
Yuzvendra chahal's role in the team India squad.#INDvsPAK pic.twitter.com/XA7J5jBItd
— Satyam (@satyam_2044) October 23, 2022
Yuzvendra Chahal has the joint-most wickets for India in T20Is (85).
T20 World Cup 2021: Dropped from squad
T20 World Cup 2022: Dropped from Playing XI
He is yet to play a T20WC match! pic.twitter.com/cdLyAqTPjl
— 12th Khiladi (@12th_khiladi) October 23, 2022
What Is The Case That Left Out Yuzvendra Chahal Answer It With Logic.
— MONTY KUMAR (@monty1bhai) October 23, 2022
I’m probably blind to not be able to see what Yuzvendra Chahal has it in him to have such a long career as a Indian player and in the squad always.A normal leg spinner with average fielding with no ability to bat. Are we struggling to find good spinners as well? #TeamIndia #BCCI
— Amit Sooden (@hitman25091979) October 23, 2022
Ravichandran Ashwin gets the nod ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal. India are going to field first. #T20WorldCup #INDvsPAK
— atishay jain (@atishay_jain04) October 23, 2022
A lot is at stake for both sides as they look forward to starting their campaign at the iconic MCG. The skies are so far clear in Melbourne and fans can expect a full 40-overs-a-side contest. After facing off against each other twice during the Asia Cup 2022, both teams are scheduled to square off against one another once again this year at the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022, India and Pakistan are in group 2.
India and Pakistan both played one warm-up match before they started their T20 World Cup campaign. Pakistan suffered a defeat to England by 6 wickets in their warm-up match, while India defeated Australia by 6 runs.
India lost by 10 wickets to Pakistan in their group-stage encounter in the T20 World Cup last year and that played a big part in knocking them out of the tournament early.
Speaking at the time of the toss, India skipper Rohit Sharma said, "We are going to field first. Looks like a good pitch, it's always nice with overcast conditions. Think the ball will swing around a bit. Preparations have been good. We played a couple of practice games in Brisbane. Time to come out and enjoy ourselves. We were expecting nothing less than this, hopefully, we'll entertain them. We have seven batters, three seamers and two spinners."
Speaking at the time of the toss, Pakistan captain Babar Azam said, " Toss is not in our hands. We'll try to post around 160-170. We have prepared well, and we are ready for this big game. We won a series back home, and we played a tri-series in New Zealand, so we are prepared. We have three fast bowlers and two spinners."
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh.
Pakistan (Playing XI): Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Shan Masood, Haider Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah.
