Aakash Chopra Lashes Out At The Indian Selection Committee For Ignoring This Speedster For The South Africa Tour

Aakash Chopra has questioned the Indian Selection Committee for completely ignoring pacer Umran Malik across all three formats, including the India A squad, for the upcoming multi-format tour of South Africa. The Men In Blue will face the Proteas in three T20Is, three ODIs, and two Tests, with the first T20I to be played in Durban on Sunday, December 10. The India A team will play three four-day games, with the first game commencing on December 11.

Aakash Chopra was asked in a video on his YouTube Channel whether Umran Malik deserves a spot in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup, to which he responded, “I feel he should be considered. You had kept him in the team until some time back. You had played him, it was either against the West Indies or Ireland. After that, he has been missing. You keep someone with so much love at one point and then suddenly missing, that’s not good.”

The former India opener added, “Keep him in the scheme of things at least. In fact, he is not even being picked for the India A team. How can it happen that he was in the Indian team three months ago and now he is not even part of the India A team?”

Aakash Chopra Feels Umran Malik Should Have Been Picked In The India ‘A’ Squad

Aakash Chopra acknowledged the fact that the Jammu and Kashmir speedster needs to perform to get picked up for the T20I side. However, Chopra believes that he deserves a spot in at least the India A team and he can be a great prospect for India in red-ball cricket. Umran Malik has played eight T20I matches and has taken 11 wickets but the main concern about his bowling is his economy. Malik has leaked runs with an economy of more than 10 in the shortest format.

Umran Malik can clock 150+ consistently but he needs to do a lot of work on his line and length because, in modern-day cricket, one cannot expect to get wickets with just sheer pace. However, giving him an opportunity with the India A squad could have been the push that he needs to flourish. Umran’s style of play is well suited for the red-ball format but he has not got enough opportunities in that.