SL vs IND: Aakash Chopra Calls This India Player Selection as ‘Bizarre’

SL vs IND: The India squad for the upcoming limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka was recently announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Senior opener Shikhar Dhawan will be captaining the national side during the Sri Lanka ODIs and T20Is while as many as five players have received their maiden call-ups in the Indian team. However, the cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra is confused with the selection of one of the players.

SL vs IND: Aakash Chopra unhappy with Krishnappa Gowtham’s selection

In the 20-member squad announced for the Lanka tour, the likes of Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana, Krishnappa Gowtham and Chetan Sakariya received their maiden India call-up. In his latest YouTube video, Aakash Chopra was surprised with Gowtham’s inclusion in the India squad despite the off-spinner not being picked in the Chennai Super Kings playing XI in the first half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season. Incidentally, Gowtham was the most expensive uncapped Indian player in the IPL 2021 auction as he was bought by CSK at a whopping price of INR 9.25 crores.

“Krishnappa Gowtham name was not there in the selection last time and it is not that he played a single match of the IPL in between. He was in captain Dhoni’s team but was not played a single match. So that’s a bit of a bizarre thing,” said Aakash Chopra.

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra also voiced his opinion over the exclusion of Rahul Tewatia from the India limited-overs squad after the leg-spinner wasn’t given a single game during the home series against England. Chopra termed Tewatia’s exclusion as clear “injustice” towards a player who has been dropped without even playing.

“Where is Rahul Tewatia? Because last time when the team was picked, Rahul Tewatia was in the team. He did not play there. There cannot be a greater injustice than dropping someone without playing him,” added Chopra.

“When you select someone in the Indian team, his entire family, clan and coaches become happy that the player whom they have invested in since childhood has been selected. You did not give him a chance to fail or succeed and you dropped him,” the former India opener concluded.

India Squad for Sri Lanka Tour

Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.

Sri Lanka vs India Schedule

Team India is scheduled to play 3 ODIs and as many T20Is against Sri Lanka starting with the 50-overs matches on 13 July. The three-match T20I series will begin on 21 July. All the six white ball games will be played at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Former India captain Rahul Dravid will travel with the Indian team as head coach while the duo of Paras Mhambrey and T Dilip will be the bowling and fielding coaches respectively.

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