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Aakash Chopra on Sooryavanshi's omission: 'Will you play him only when someone is injured?'
Former India opener Aakash Chopra has questioned dropping Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for the fourth T20I against New Zealand once Ishan Kishan was fit, asking whether he will play only when someone is injured. Sooryavanshi scored 4 and 45 in two matches; India lost the fourth by 87 runs.
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Former India opener Aakash Chopra has criticised the decision to drop Vaibhav Sooryavanshi from the fourth T20I against New Zealand once Ishan Kishan was available again. He asked whether the young batter would be picked only when someone was injured or unavailable. India lost the match at Eden Park by 87 runs, and the series stands at 3-1 in India's favour, with the fifth match due at Hamilton on 1 November.
What Chopra said
Chopra's main objection was about role clarity. He argued that Sooryavanshi should not be treated as a mere replacement for injured players. He asked whether Sooryavanshi would play only when someone was injured or unavailable, and he urged the team to come out and share its roadmap and philosophy.
He said that, philosophically, Sooryavanshi was the logical player to drop, because he had come into the side for the injured Kishan. But he questioned the thinking behind it. If Sooryavanshi is unlikely to get regular game time, Chopra said, he would be better off returning to domestic first-class cricket for match experience. He also noted that in the previous match Abhishek Sharma scored a century while Sooryavanshi was just short of a fifty, and he called the fourth match a dead rubber.
What Sooryavanshi did
Sooryavanshi is 15 years old, according to reports; one gives his date of birth as 27 March 2011. In the second T20I on 24 October he was dismissed by Nathan Smith in the seventh over of India's chase after facing eight balls. In the third T20I, India chased 199 and won by six wickets, and he made 45 off 19 balls, according to one report.
Sooryavanshi replaced the injured Kishan in the second and third T20Is, and he scored 4 and 45. He was dropped for the fourth. Kishan had missed those two matches with a low-grade right adductor strain, according to one report, which explains the change in the XI.
India chose to bowl first, and Glenn Phillips scored 107 off 49 balls as New Zealand made 259 for 7. India, chasing 260, were bowled out for 172 for 9. Sanju Samson was caught behind for 4 in the first over, and Kishan was caught and bowled for a duck by Jacob Duffy off the third ball he faced, which left India four for two. Abhishek Sharma made 27 off 15 balls and Tilak Varma 35 off 35.
One report says that the omission further asserted the team management's declaration that Samson and Abhishek Sharma are the first-choice opening pair. Fans also criticised the decision on social media, according to another report. The team management has not publicly given a detailed explanation of the selection, in the reports found.
The reports found do not carry any response from the team management or the captain, and they do not say whether Sooryavanshi will play in the fifth T20I at Hamilton. They also do not say whether he is being considered for any of the other formats in the tour. Chopra's remarks come from his commentary and are his opinion, not a statement of team policy.
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