"Yuzvendra Chahal's File Has Been Closed": Aakash Chopra on Team India's Snub

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has gone hard against the BCCI and the team management for allegedly leaving out Yuzvendra Chahal, effectively terminating his international career. The latter, after being excluded from India's ICC Champions Trophy squad announced recently, seems to have got an extension of two years since he was left out of the ODI format two years back.

What is more shocking is that Chahal did not get a place in the T20I team for the five-match series against England. His last ODI was played in January 2023 against New Zealand, and his last T20I was against West Indies in August 2023. Since then, the leg-spinner has been completely ignored, which has raised questions about whether the team management has been fair in handling his career.

Aakash Chopra was surprised that Yuzvendra Chahal has been ignored despite his good performance in white ball cricket. Chahal didn’t play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, a chance to prove himself, he missed it. This has raised more questions about how the team is treating him.

“Yuzvendra Chahal has been totally finished. His file has been closed. I have got no idea why they did that. It is an interesting case. He last played in January 2023. So it’s been two years for him. His numbers are also very good. He has picked up a lot of wickets and was consistently doing well,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“Because it’s been two years since it (Chahal’s career) has been closed, there is no place for Yuzi also here because as soon as you suddenly pick him out of the blue, it will be seen as a regressive step,” Chopra concluded.

Aakash Chopra mentioned Yuzvendra Chahal's good ODI statistics, the 34-year-old leg spinner has taken 121 wickets in 72 matches for India. Chopra also added that Chahal has been out of the team setup for nearly 2 years and hence it is quite apparent that he was never in contention for a spot in the ICC Champions Trophy squad. This, he argued, reflects the management’s lack of intent to bring Chahal back into the fold.