"Is he not good enough anymore?" - Aakash Chopra questions Yuzvendra Chahal's exclusion from India's T20I squad

Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned whether Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion from India’s T20I squad for the upcoming series against Australia means that he is out of the radar now. However, Team India will play against the Aussies in a five-match series, with the first game to take place in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. Alongside Chahal, Sanju Samson has also been omitted.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Ravi Bishnoi is there but Yuzi (Yuzvendra) Chahal isn’t. It’s a slightly surprising thing to me that you have virtually turned your back on him. You neither played him in ODI cricket nor are you keeping his name for T20Is. Is he not good enough anymore?”

The veteran also added that it can’t be helped if the selectors have already taken a call that the veteran leg-spinner is not worthy enough to be selected anymore as well. However, Chahal, with 96 scalps, is India’s leading wicket-taker in the shortest format. He has claimed nine wickets in as many T20Is this year but has been slightly expensive, having given away runs an average of 8.72 runs per over.

He said: “You start getting a feeling like that, which is not a good feeling because Yuzi Chahal has done well. It seems like the selectors have made up their minds and you can’t do anything if someone has made up their mind.”

“It is a huge statement from the selectors” – Aakash Chopra on Jitesh Sharma’s selection

However, Aakash Chopra also added that Jitesh Sharma’s selection ahead of Sanju Samson is a hint from the selectors as well. Moreover, Samson couldn’t do much with the bat as well. He scored 374 runs at a below-par average of 19.68 in 21 T20I innings as well.

“Jitesh Sharma is ahead of Sanju Samson. I feel it is a huge statement from the selectors about whom they are looking towards. There is no doubt that Sanju Samson is a mighty player and a match will be played at his home (Thiruvananthapuram) as well,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “His lifesize poster will be made but he won’t be there. The entire stadium will sing – ‘We miss you Sanju Samson’. I have started feeling that they are not thinking about him because he opens or plays at No. 3 in the IPL and they don’t have a place for him there.”