‘I Know He Is Probably Ahead In The Pecking Order, But I Don’t Agree With That’-Aakash Chopra Questions One Decision Of India’s Team selection
Aakash Chopra has questioned why Team India chose to put Shreyas Iyer in the third and final T20I against England instead of Deepak Hooda.
With wins in the first two T20Is, the Men in Blue had already won the three-match series. So, they decided to make a lot of changes for the last game, which was on July 10.
Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar lost their spots to Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, and Umran Malik.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra talked about how Team India changed a lot of people for the third T20I. He said the following about Iyer playing before Hooda:
“I was saying, “Don’t change anything, stick with the same team. What does it matter?” But it didn’t work out that way. I know that Shreyas Iyer is probably ahead of Deepak Hooda in the pecking order, but I’m not ready to agree that he is ahead.”
Iyer scored 28 runs off 23 balls, making him the second-highest scorer for India in the third T20I. But Aakash Chopra thinks it was a great time to play Hooda because Pandya was getting a break. The former captain of the Indian team said:
“I have no idea why he is ahead. Deepak Hooda should be a little higher on this list, in my opinion. Why not test Deepak Hooda if you were resting Hardik Pandya? You had a chance to play him, but you didn’t.”
With Pandya on the bench, the Indian team only had five bowlers to choose from. Hooda’s inclusion would have given them a sixth bowling option, on top of the fact that he has been doing well with the bat lately.
Aakash Chopra talks about Ravi Bishnoi replacing Yuzvendra Chahal
Aakash Chopra said that putting Bishnoi in the XI instead of Chahal was an “interesting” choice. He thought:
“Both Bumrah and Bhuvi had a break. Avesh and Umran were able to come here and play. Yuzi Chahal was also given a break, which I find very interesting because he only played one game in Ireland, while Ravi Bishnoi played two. Here, Yuzi played two games while Bishnoi played only one.”
Even though Arshdeep Singh wasn’t in the team for the last two T20Is, the well-known commentator thinks the left-handed pacer could have gotten another game. Aakash Chopra gave more details:
“Arshdeep, what about him? You played him in the first game, but he wasn’t on the team after that. Obviously, you can play him when you’re giving Bumrah and Bhuvi a break. Avesh and Umran were not on the team for the first game, so they got a chance here. Arshdeep, on the other hand, only played in one game.”
In the first T20I against England, Arshdeep Singh did a great job of showing what he could do. Umran Malik and Avesh Khan played on Sunday because the Punjab Kings pacer wasn’t in the original squad for the last two T20Is.
Even though Suryakumar Yadav had a great 117-run knock, India lost the third T20I against England by 17 runs because they couldn’t reach 216 runs.
