India VS New Zealand: Yuzvendra Chahal showed India what they were missing in the T20 World Cup

Having smashed Washington Sundar for a four in the previous over, Glenn Phillips decides to take on India's leading spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal. 

And to start with, it worked. The first ball of the over sees Yuzvendra Chahal toss one up just outside the leg stump, and Glenn Phillips gets into a perfect position to slog sweep the ball for six. 

Yuzvendra Chahal, understandably cautious and heaved for a six, pushes the next one through quicker and is duly rewarded with a dot ball. 

But he is reminded by Rishabh Pant behind the stumps in Hindi to bowl the next one slower. Yuzvendra Chahal obliges, sending a slow and flighted delivery Glenn Phillips' way. 

Having already nailed one slog sweep, Glenn Phillips' eyes light up, and he goes for another. However, he needs to read this ball's flight and dip clearly. 

He swings and hits nothing, but thin air, and Yuzvendra to Chahal knows he has his man. The ball carts into the stumps, and Glenn Phillips walks back to the dugout. 

Yuzvendra Chahal would go on to get another wicket and, despite conceding 14 runs off his first seven balls, end his spell with figures of 2-26. 

For Indian fans, it was a bittersweet feeling. Sweet because it was a reminder of what Yuzvendra Chahal is capable of as if it was needed. 

He was bitter because, despite everyone being aware of his abilities, he was benched throughout the T20 World Cup in favour of Ravichandran Ashwin. 

It isn't a slight on Ravichandran Ashwin either; he has his own set of skills and is a canny operator in white-ball cricket. But he is no longer a wicket-taker in the format. 

He prefers to be economical, bowling safe lines and lengths and giving away singles and doubles as well as the odd boundary. 

If he's not your lead spinner, it's a formula that works. Indeed, one of the reasons Ravichandran Ashwin's IPL 2022 seemed decent was because he was bowling alongside Chahal in the Rajasthan Royals. 

With Yuzvendra Chahal being the leading wicket-taker, Ravichandran Ashwin was free to hold up one end, and he did that well. But when you're the team's lead spinner, you cannot simply be economical. 

And that's where Yuzvendra Chahal's presence was sorely missed. He can sometimes be expensive, but he bowls attacking lines and lengths to get wickets. 

He isn't looking to stem the flow of runs; he's also looking to get the top batters out. And India desperately needed his abilities to be used in the middle overs. Instead, they went with Ravichandran Ashwin – a bowler who most big teams looked to target, safe in the knowledge he wouldn't be aiming to take their wicket. 

In 2021, Yuzvendra Chahal didn't even make India's World Cup squad. In 2022, he was picked but didn't play a single game. 

Let's hope by 2023 and 2024, he's getting a game come to an ICC tournament. Because otherwise, it would be a simple case of those not learning from history being doomed to repeat it.