NEW DELHI:
Rohit Sharma
and
Virat Kohli
returned to the T20I team after a gap of 14 months for the three-match series against Afghanistan but
KL Rahul
has once again been left out of the shortest format.
Rohit, Kohli and Rahul last appeared in a T20I for India in the World Cup semi-final against England in November 2022.
Former India batter
Aakash Chopra
bats for the inclusion of Rahul in the T20I team saying the wicketkeeper-batter was among the top three in the T20 World Cup for India and he is only one to have been dropped.
However, BCCI did not offer any explanation for any of the omissions or inclusions in its statement on Sunday.
"Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli were India's top three in the 2022 World Cup. Among them, KL Rahul has been dropped or has not been picked, there is no clarity, but he is not there. There can be a discussion on that as well," said Chopra on his YouTube Channel.
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He also said that Rahul's strike rate in T20 Internationals is not bad, suggesting the possibility of deploying him in the middle order, similar to his role in One Day Internationals (ODIs).
"His strike rate in T20Is is more than 135, so that is not bad. There are no vacant opening positions in any case, and you play him in the middle in ODIs as well, so you could have done that here too. You play him down the order even in Tests now. However, you said you need to make some changes at least," Chopra added.
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