Aakash Chopra doesn't want a star Indian player to be picked for England tour

Team India will soon embark on England tour where they are expected to be tested to the hilt especially during the Test series. They will also face Ireland in the two-match T20 International series before landing in England officially. There was a lot of debate regarding the selection policy employed by the team during South Africa tour earlier this year and all the focus will be on the same again. However, the former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that a star Indian player doesn’t deserve a place in his team for the Test series.

Only Virat Kohli played well in South Africa and most of the batsmen were guilty of throwing their wickets away. Moreover, Ajinkya Rahane was dropped for the first couple of Test matches which raised many eyebrows and when he was finally included, India won the game. He also played a crucial hand in the victory and the team looks settled now with him in the middle-order.

Who is the player?

Aakash Chopra, while speaking to India TV during the cricket show ‘Cricket ki Baat, was of the opinion that Hardik Pandya should not be picked for England Tests. He pointed out at his only knock of 93 runs in the first game in the rainbow nation after which the youngster struggled to make an impression as an all-rounder.

“There is no place for Hardik Pandya in my team. As far as his Test career is concerned, Pandya has played one decent knock that came in the first Test against South Africa. He played well after being dropped twice and went on to make 93 runs. However, he couldn’t score much in five subsequent innings,” he said while adding that there is no utility of Pandya as a batsman if he is not batting in the top 5 in the line-up.

“If I am not playing him in top five, then there’s no utility of Pandya as a batsman. I can’t even make him bowl 17-18 overs in a day, thus he can’t be my third fast bowler either. He can be my fourth fast bowler. But we don’t need a fourth fast bowler amid speedsters such as Bhuvi, Bumrah, Shami, Umesh and Ishant. It’ll be better to play a spinner instead of Pandya,” Chopra further said.

Having said that it seems unlikely that Pandya will be dropped from the playing XI at least in the first Test as he is very highly rated by the captain Virat Kohli and the coach Ravi Shastri.

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