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Rishabh Pant's omission from T20I squad perplexes ex-India star: 'Have you taken a call this early in his career?'
Former India batter Aakash Chopra wants Rishabh Pant to be given some clarity by the selectors regarding his white-ball future.
Former India batter Aakash Chopra wants Rishabh Pant to be given some clarity by the selectors regarding his white-ball future. His comments came after the wicketkeeper-batter was not included in the 15-member squad for the upcoming five-match T20Is against England. Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel are the two wicketkeepers in the team.
The selection committee has not clarified whether Pant has been dropped or rested. Recently, the 27-year-old played all five Tests against Australia. Along with Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are not part of the squad.
While making a case for Rishabh Pant, Aakash Chopra said Dhruv Jurel is yet to set the stage on fire in T20Is and hence Pant should have been chosen as atleast the back-up keeper for the T20I squad.
"You have picked Dhruv Jurel on pure potential. You cannot play him in the starting XI. There is no room for him. If you want to play him, you have to bench either Rinku Singh or Nitish Kumar Reddy, which will not be right for either of them," Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
"You have picked him but not Rishabh Pant. It can't be that Rishabh Pant is not in your scheme of things. So early in his career, have you taken this call? I am not doing any PR. I think Rishabh Pant is an asset. He is a generational talent," he stated further.
'Could have picked Rishabh Pant'
Aakash Chopra also stated that Pant could have been picked for the T20I series against England as he is not a sure-start starter for the Champions Trophy.
KL Rahul is expected to start in the playing XI as the first-choice keeper. Pant is battling for the second spot alongside Sanju Samson for the upcoming three-match ODI series against England and the Champions Trophy.
"You should invest in him. If he is not in your scheme of things, maybe he has been given rest. Rishabh Pant is not a sure-start name for the Champions Trophy. Even if picked, he is not guaranteed a spot in the playing XI," said Chopra.
"You could have picked him. It would be nice if the selectors could give some clarity to Rishabh Pant. When you are going through transition, it is important to keep everyone in the loop and give everyone some clarity," he added.
India squad for the England T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk).
