Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has questioned the team’s selection strategy after the third T20I against Australia. Chopra expressed his surprise that Rana didn’t play when he was playing well for the team.
Rana had scored 35 runs off 33 balls while batting at number seven in the second game at the MCG and had added a crucial alliance with Abhishek Sharma. Chopra highlighted that the team kept playing Rana when there was criticism from the experts and surprisingly dropped him when he was doing well.
Furthermore, the renowned commentator noted that Washington Sundar didn’t bowl a solitary over. Shivam Dube was given three overs but he was taken for 43 runs.
“Why wasn’t Washington Sundar made to bowl? This is a big question. Firstly, you made a lot of changes. You shouldn’t have dropped Harshit in this match. You should have played Harshit in this match because you had to bowl Shivam Dube. So you could have played Harshit and made him bat at No. 8 because he batted well in the last match,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“He didn’t bowl well once or twice, so you didn’t play him, but you won’t be able to prepare Harshit also like this. There was a lot of criticism. You kept playing him until there was criticism, and you dropped him when people were praising him. It wasn’t understandable,” he added.
Chopra shared his surprise after Suryakumar Yadav didn’t give the ball to Washington Sundar at Hobart.
“You didn’t get Washi to bowl. This is surprising, that you are playing him but not making him bowl. If someone tells me that he wasn’t bowled because there were right-handers in the middle, Travis Head is the only left-hander in the entire batting lineup. You knew that beforehand,” he said.
The former Delhi cricketer highlighted that Australia has all the right-handers in the playing XI, barring Travis Head, and Sundar shouldn’t have played if he was not going to bowl. But Sundar played a match-winning knock of 49 runs.
“Australia’s batting lineup has all right-handers. If Washi can’t bowl there, he shouldn’t play. Washi batted incredibly well and we also got to see his power game, something we haven’t seen much, which is outstanding, but not getting him to bowl makes no sense because you had left two overs for Shivam Dube and Abhishek Sharma in the last five overs,” Chopra observed.
The fourth T20I between India and Australia will be played on Thursday at the Bill Pippen Oval, Gold Coast.
