Aakash Chopra questions Sooryavanshi’s omission after Kishan’s return

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has criticised the decision to exclude Vaibhav Sooryavanshi from the playing XI in the fourth T20I against New Zealand following Ishan Kishan’s return from injury.

Sooryavanshi had played in the second and third T20Is after Kishan was ruled out, scoring 4 and 45 runs respectively. Chopra argued that the young player should not be regarded solely as a substitute for injured players.

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“Last match, Abhishek made 100 and Vaibhav missed his 50. But the batting was very good. After that, the question was, if Ishan is fit, who will go out. If you think philosophically, then the answer is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi since he replaced an injured Kishan. But this was a dead rubber,” Chopra stated on his YouTube channel.

He added, “The decision to drop Vaibhav Sooryavanshi leads to a bigger question. Will you play Vaibhav Sooryavanshi only when someone is injured? Or when someone is unavailable? If that is the case, you can send him home. You can tell him to go and play first-class cricket. Of course, he can learn by staying in the Indian dressing room. But if it’s happening for an extended period, he should get bat on ball.”

Chopra called on the team management to clarify their plans and long-term strategy for Sooryavanshi. He expressed disappointment over the lack of clear communication regarding the player’s role in the team.

“The team should come out and share what their roadmap and philosophy is. Maybe they have already thought about it and have already charted out a plan. But they haven’t told anybody. As such, we don’t know what they are going to do with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. His absence was a little disappointing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kishan returned to the playing XI but was dismissed for a duck as India were restricted to 172 for 9 while chasing a target of 260 runs.