"Don't Know Why Arshdeep Singh Isn't There": Ex-India Bowling Coach Questions Star's Exclusion From World Cup Squad

Former India bowling coach Bharat Arun has questioned the exclusion of "left-arm pacer" Arshdeep Singh in the 15-man preliminary squad for the World Cup. Arshdeep made his debut with the Indian team last year, but has been in and out of the squad since then. He was recently part of the of the team for the white-ball tours of West Indies and Ireland, but was left of the Asia Cup squad, as well as the preliminary World Cup team. Arun hailed Arshdeep and was surprised over his exclusion from the squad.

"We tried bringing in left-arm fast bowlers during our time. We always wanted one. Arshdeep was promised a lot and I don't know why he isn't there in the squad. To me, he looked very, very impressive. He is capable of bowling yorkers and the late half can move the ball. He is an exciting fast bowler and I wonder where he is now. These bowlers were supposed to come back to India during Covid time and it was Ravi who stopped the move. It gave us the option to make them play," Arun said on 'Cricket Basu' YouTube channel.

So far, Arshdeep has played three ODIs and 33 T20Is for India. He has picked up 50 wickets in the shortest format.

The selectors have picked four all-rounders and four pacers in the World Cup squad, apart from seven quality batters.

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.