India vs England: Rahul Chahar Could Be Recalled For T20Is

Rahul Chahar, the right-arm wristspinner, could be recalled to India’s T20I squad for the five-match series against England, starting on Friday (March 12).

Chahar is in line for a comeback in the shortest format as doubts remain on the participation of Rahul Tewatia and Varun Chakravarthy. Both Tewatia and Chakravarthy are battling fitness issues and could be ruled out of the series.

Rahul Chahar trains with India’s T20I squad

Chahar was one of the standby players during the Test matches and has been in India’s bio-bubble for a while now. He also had a practise session with the team on Monday (March 8).

Chahar, identified as one of the bright spin bowling talents in the country, played a standalone T20I on the tour of the Caribbean back in August 2019. The 21-year-old also had a reasonably good IPL 2020 for Mumbai Indians (MI), picking 15 wickets and going at 8.16 runs per over.

Tewatia, like Chakravarthy, failed his first fitness test conducted at the NCA in Bangalore last month, while the results of his second test are yet not known.

As per a report from Cricbuzz, however, the uncapped Haryana all-rounder “is also in quarantine in Ahmedabad along with the rest of the T20I squad and even trained with the Indian squad on Monday evening.”

Chakravarthy, though, hasn’t yet trained with the team and has been asked to visit the NCA to work on achieving his fitness targets.

BCCI to identify fit players in advance

Further, the Cricbuzz report stated the BCCI will be asking the national selectors to identify India prospects and send them for fitness tests well in advance. The board doesn’t want a repeat of the issue involving Tewatia and Chakravarthy, named in the T20I squad to face England.

The five national selectors will be identifying players from their respective zones and sending them for fitness approval at the NCA. Only those players who prove their fitness will be considered for future selection.