With the T20 World Cup set to begin on October 17, Shardul Thakur has been added to India's squad as a last-minute change. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) cricketer replaces Axar Patel, who has now been moved into the stand-by players' list which also includes Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar. BCCI announced the change on Wednesday via their social media handles and fans went into a state of frenzy. The bowler has been crucial for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season and the franchise has already booked a berth in the final.
One fan had an interesting perspective on the change and tweeted that Thakur should have been selected instead of Ravichandran Ashwin or Rahul Chahar. The user wrote, "Picking Shardul Thakur was a right call but it should've been in the place of Ashwin or Rahul Chahar. And not picking Chahal is as dumb as it gets. It's like encouraging the ones who didn't perform and the discouraging the ones who did perform well."
Meanwhile, another fan stated boldly that Thakur is India's best fast bowling all-rounder and could be pivotal. "Shardul Thakur replaces Axar Patel in India's main squad for T20 WorldCup. What do you think? Will he make India win the World Cup? I believe he is India's best fast bowling all-rounder as per the current available options", he wrote.
Here are the other reactions:
Earlier, Team India had named a preliminary 15-man squad for the upcoming tournament on September 8. In the earlier roster, Axar was part of the main squad and Shardul was in the stand-by list.
The Virat Kohli-led outfit will begin their campaign on October 24, when they face Pakistan in Dubai.