Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has questioned KL Rahul’s exclusion from the 16-man T20I squad for the series against Afghanistan. While senior statesman, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been recalled to the T20I squad after their impressive run in the ODI World Cup, Rahul was ignored by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel.
Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson have been picked as the two wicket-keeping options in the squad. Meanwhile, KL Rahul had scored 452 runs in 11 matches of the ODI World Cup at an average of 75.33. Rahul has scored 2265 runs in 68 T20I innings at an impressive average of 37.75 and a fine strike rate of 139.12.
The renowned commentator said if Rohit Sharma gets a recall then Rahul should have also been included in the T20I squad.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “When you want to go back to your seniors, what is Rahul’s mistake? If you are making the team based on the last T20 World Cup performance, both Rohit and Rahul didn’t do well. Both are in the same boat.”
“After that, both have done well, if we see the last World Cup, the ODI one. Then both names should have been there. Rahul even keeps and bats down the order now. So you could have played him there as well. However, Rahul isn’t there but Rohit is. Virat Kohli is there. You weren’t looking to keep him for the last one year.”
Meanwhile, Sanju Samson recently scored an ODI hundred against South Africa. Samson has been picked in the T20I squad and Chopra reckons the wicket-keeper bat has suddenly become a part of the plan for the selectors.
“Now Sanju Samson is there. For a long time, you weren’t selecting him in the important format for the year, but now suddenly, he has become a part of your scheme of things. Ishan Kishan isn’t there. He has given slightly patchy performances but that can be said about Shubman Gill also if you talk about T20Is.”
Chopra added that either Yashasvi Jaiswal or Shubman Gill can open the innings with Rohit Sharma whereas Virat Kohli can also open with the Indian skipper.
“Going forward, only one of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill can open with Rohit Sharma. A school of thought could be to get Virat Kohli to open with Rohit because then only you will be able to play Suryakumar Yadav at No. 3, or else you won’t be able to do that.”
The first T20I between India and Afghanistan will be played at Mohali on 11th January.
