Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra questioned the team management for the team’s playing XI in the second ODI against the West Indies on Wednesday. Chopra was left surprised after Nitish Kumar Reddy was left out of the final XI but Mohammed Siraj was not given his chance.
India gave ODI cap to Auqib Nabi Dar but the fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir didn’t have a great debut, conceding 84 runs in 8.5 overs he bowled.
Chopra said the team’s think tank can not prepare Nitish Kumar Reddy this way after dropping him from the playing XI and thus the snub would not help his confidence. Reddy had returned with figures of 1-45 in five overs he bowled in the opening game.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “Nitish Kumar Reddy needs to be prepared, so how will he be prepared? He won’t be prepared this way, that you play him in one match, he gets hit in the first over, bowls well in the last over, which is very good. But what next? In the next match, you dropped him. So, there’s no way confidence will come from anywhere. You have to make him bowl and play matches, only then will he gain some confidence. So, I completely disagreed with what you were doing.
“He (Reddy) was bowling a lot, bowling a lot, and actually Mohammed Siraj was also bowling a lot. So that means they were fit, that means they were available, that means you didn’t play them. So that was a tactical decision you took, and I am thinking, why did you do that? Like, what are they trying to do?” he added.
The renowned commentator questioned Mohammed Siraj’s omission from the first two games against the West Indies.
“After that, you didn’t play Siraj. And I’m thinking that Siraj is such a good bowler that he should be in the 15. I mean, you decided he’s worthy of the 15, right? Then why isn’t he worthy of the 11? I mean, what is stopping him? I am slightly baffled by this. I’m baffled as to why this is happening. Because I tried to explain to myself, why could this be happening? His ODI numbers are very good. He used to perform really well before. I remember the Asia Cup final. I remember that one game in Thiruvananthapuram. He used to take wickets.
India registered an eight-wicket win in the second game, chasing their highest total in ODI history (406).
