After India’s squad for the ODI World Cup 2023 was announced, Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh had made a social media post in which he had slammed the snub of a key India bowler, who has done exceedingly well in the format over the years. While speaking to Star Sports, Harbhajan again took his name while analysing the squad. But this time, te former off-spinner also took name of a pacer, who does not feature in the squad, but could have made a massive impact during the tournament. That pacer is left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, who comes from the same state Punjab as Bhajji.   

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Arguing why Arshdeep could have been a good pick, Harbhajan said that the Punjab pacer could have become the point of difference in the pace attack. His inswinging deliveries could have created problems for the right-handed batters in the opposition lineup. “….Because a left-arm seamer, if he can bring the new ball inside, it makes it useful in the game. If he can get two wickets early in the game, I’m not saying that right-handers can’t do that, but a left-hand seamer can get an actual angle to get the wicket. You can see how Shaheen Shah Afridi or Mitchell Starc, they have a huge impact on the game. When Australia won the World Cup, Mitchell Starc had a huge impact on the games; he sent Brendon McCullum out on the first ball. Incoming ball, with that speed, coming into a right-hander is always challenging,” said Harbhajan.

Here’s the #TeamIndia squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 _#CWC23 pic.twitter.com/EX7Njg2Tcv

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 5, 2023

The second player Harbhajan feels India should have picked in the 15-man squad is Yuzvendra Chahal. Bhajji feels Chahl is a proven match-winner and would have easily walked into playing 11 of another country. “Even after proving so much, I feel he should have been in the team. If I were part of the management, I would definitely play him in the team, because we are all stakeholders of Indian cricket and we want the Indian Cricket Team to do well. So, I feel these two boys, they could have been very handy in the World Cup, and especially in conditions where they know what to do and how to take wickets.”

Harbhajan also said that a lot will depend on Rohit and Virat Kohli during the World Cup and the batting has to click. The former India spinner said, “Shreyas Iyer has just come back after injury, Ishan Kishan looks good, and KL Rahul, we don’t know whether he will play or not after coming back from his injury. Hardik Pandya’s performance will be as important as Rohit’s and Virat Kohli’s. If you look at this side from the top, it looks very strong, but the middle order hugely depends on Hardik and others’ form. So, I believe that they will all have to come together to play some amazing kind of cricket to lift the Cup; otherwise, it will be very challenging.”