Former India opener Aakash Chopra has questioned Umran Malik’s absence from all recent Indian squads, including the India A sides. However, he is not even a part of the 16-member Indian squad for the upcoming T20I series against Afghanistan as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Till some time back, Umran Malik was everywhere. We took him to the West Indies as well and it seemed like he could be in the World Cup team too but now he is not there in any of the teams. He doesn’t even get selected for India A.”

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He again shared: “What happened within three months that a guy first gets selected for the Indian team, gets very minimum chances there, and then goes totally missing? We don’t even know where Umran Malik is. Why isn’t he there? We should know why this is happening.”

However, Umran Malik registered stunning figures of 2/9 in 2.1 overs in his last T20I against New Zealand in February last year. However, he had a dismal show in IPL 2023 and proved expensive in the two ODIs he played on the West Indies tour as well. And, Chopra said that the team is yet to finalize their premier spinners between Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja and their first-choice wrist-spinner between Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi as well.

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“When I look at the election, I see Shreyas Iyer. There was a five-match series immediately after the World Cup, so he was rested for the first two or three matches but then he joined the team as a vice-captain. He scored a fifty in the last match against Australia as well. It was a match-winning knock,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “Then he went to South Africa as well but now he is not in the team. Why is he not there? If he was a part of your team, what happened to him now, suddenly? What will you tell Shreyas Iyer, that why hasn’t he been picked?”