Aakash Chopra questions Team India selection ahead of the second ODI against Australia

India won the first ODI against Australia comfortably and more or less played the full strength side available. With this series being the last one before the World Cup for them, the auditioning players for a couple of spots were expected to get a go. But none of them featured in the playing XI for the hosts and the former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has some serious questions for the team over the same.

He pointed out that Siddarth Kaul is only part of the first two ODIs and then will be replaced by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Kaul should’ve been given the opportunity according to Chopra as he is in line to become the fourth seamer. If he doesn’t play in the second ODI on Tuesday, then he will have played only a solitary T20 International before the World Cup selection.

Also, Virat Kohli has cleared that the Indian Premier League (IPL) performances won’t affect the World Cup selections which means that Kaul has to play the second game to stake his claim. If he doesn’t and misses out on a WC spot, it will be unfair on the bowler.

“Siddarth Kaul, this is his last match. If he doesn’t play in this match, he isn’t even part of the squad for the last three matches. Bhuvi will come and he will play. So if we are thinking Kaul as a World Cup prospective then where are we giving him that opportunity. He had played just one T20I. Will that decide his World Cup fate?” he said in a video on Twitter.

What about Rahul and Pant?

KL Rahul performed extremely well in the two T20Is against Australia. But going by the statement of the skipper, Rahul will have to do well in the fifty-over format as well to get picked as the backup opener and the chances for him are only limited now. The same is the case with Rishabh Pant who also missed out and only has a couple of low scores in the T20 Internationals to show for his credit.

Aakash Chopra raised all these issues and felt that these players deserve a chance to prove themselves before getting picked or dropped for the World Cup. He highlighted that Dinesh Karthik was left out the squad for this series only to give an opportunity to Pant but the latter warmed the bench in Hyderabad which isn’t correct.

“KL Rahul has form. You did give him that opportunity and he did score runs. But will his T20I performance help in deciding his World Cup spot? That will be wrong because Kohli had mentioned that IPL form will not decide World Cup selections.

“Is Rishabh Pant part of the scheme of things? If he is part of it then when will he get the opportunity to bat and score runs? Because he hasn’t scored a lot of runs. He is not giving me a lot of confidence, as of now. And if he doesn’t play this time will he give you that amount of confidence that you can take him for the World Cup?” Chopra further added.

It will be interesting to see if Kohli and the team management will tinker with the winning combination in Nagpur ODI as India look to double their lead.

Here’s the video:

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