The 31-year-old India National Cricket Team right-arm pacer Deepak Chahar was not a part of the playing XI in the 5th and final T20I of the five-match series against Matthew Wade-led Australia National Cricket Team at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, December 3.
The match between the teams is a dead rubber as India are heading into the game with an unassailable lead of 3-1. The Men In Blue won the first two matches by 2 wickets and 44 runs respectively, before losing the third T20I by 5 wickets. They bounced back strong in the next game and won it by 20 runs to clinch the series.
Deepak Chahar recently returned to India’s T20I setup after a long one-year absence. He wasn’t originally included in the squad and his comeback was made possible due to the unavailability of pacer Mukesh Kumar for the third T20I.
Mukesh Kumar was granted leave by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ahead of the third T20I for his wedding. And to deal with his absence, the BCCI added Deepak Chahar to the squad for the remainder of the series.
Arshdeep Singh Replaces Deepak Chahar, Confirms Suryakumar Yadav
Ahead of the toss, the cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra informed that Deepak Chahar won’t take part in the match as he has made himself unavailable for selection due to a family health emergency.
At the toss, India National Cricket Team captain captain Suryakumar Yadav stated that Deepak Chahar had flown back home due to a medical emergency. He was replaced by Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI.
“We would have loved to bowl first. I told the team to not change anything, another opportunity to play in front of an amazing crowd, so just go and enjoy. The way the batting unit has delivered, just told them to believe and execute. Arshdeep comes in for Deepak Chahar. He (Deepak) has flown back home because of a medical emergency.”
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Arshdeep Singh
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, Josh Philippe, Ben McDermott, Aaron Hardie, Tim David, Matthew Short, Matthew Wade(w/c), Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha
