Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra is optimistic that Rahul Tripathi will be part of the Indian team in the coming time. The Indian selectors picked an 18-man squad for the five-match series against South Africa but Tripathi’s name was missing despite performing well in Tata IPL 2022 for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
As there is cut-throat competition in the Indian team, Tripathi could not make the cut even though Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were rested. The right-hander has been a consistent performer in the IPL over the years but he hasn’t yet received his maiden call-up.
The 31-year-old from Maharashtra amassed 413 runs in 14 matches at an impressive average of 37.55 and a blistering strike rate of 158.23 in the 15th season of the IPL. Tripathi was able to hit the ground running and played a key role in matches that SRH won in IPL 2022.
The renowned commentator feels Rahul Tripathi could not find a place in the team as the Indian side is loaded with top-order batters.
Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “There is no place for Rahul Tripathi and Sanju Samson. You want to include Rahul Tripathi but you are not able to find a place. You are not able to find a place despite Rohit and Virat not being there. That’s how competitive it is.”
“To be very honest, Rahul Tripathi’s name could have come in this team but the problem is that they have already picked a lot of openers – KL Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan – there will be two openers out of these three. After that, you have Shreyas Iyer at No. 3 and Deepak Hooda, so you have five proper batters there.”
Former KKR player believes it won’t take long for Tripathi to break into the Indian team if he continues his good form in the domestic circuit.
“We all had in our minds that he (Tripathi) should be played, he should be part of the team, he is a gun player. I am sure he is going to be part of the team in the coming times but at this point in time, he is not in the team.”
India’s T20I squad: KL Rahul (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
