Picture Credit: Twitter
Former cricketer Aakash Chopra was happy with the maiden India call ups for Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Rahul Tewatia as the T20I squad was announced for England series on Saturday. However, he said that batsman Manish Pandey's career may be in danger after he failed to find a place in the team announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Notably, Pandey, who was part of the Indian white-ball squad in their last series in Australia, was not included in India's squad for the five-match T20I series against England. The squad, most notably, not only handed maiden call-ups to the above-mentioned players but also marked the welcome of fit-again Rohit Sharma and an in-form Rishabh Pant.
Selectors are perhaps looking at Pant and other options: Chopra
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Picture Credit: Twitter[/caption]
“Manish Pandey’s name usually features (in Indian limited-overs teams). This brings a question mark over his (international) career because he anyway doesn’t get many chances in the XI and now you are again looking at Pant and other options,” Chopra said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Although there is no official word on the reason behind Pandey not being picked, it is being reported that he might not have been able to regain fitness from the tennis elbow injury he sustained during the Australia tour. That injury had even ruled him out of the Karnataka squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20.
The 31-year-old did not even take the field for Karnataka in their opening match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Saturday despite being picked in the initial squad. Apart from Pandey, Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson too failed to break into the Indian contingent.