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Aakash Chopra believes Mohammed Siraj should have been in India’s 2025 Champions Trophy squad
By SMCS - Jan 22, 2025 8:40 am
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Former India player Aakash Chopra has said that Mohammed Siraj should have been in India’s 2025 Champions Trophy squad in place of a spin-bowling all-rounder. He also added that Ravindra Jadeja could have been left out as well. The Champions Trophy will take place in Pakistan and Dubai from February 19 onwards.

Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj bowled a brilliant opening spell

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “In my opinion, Mohammed Siraj should have been a part of this team and I will even tell in whose place he should have been there. The team has two left-arm spinners and one off-spinner. You could have dropped one of the three. If you wished, you could have left out Ravindra Jadeja and kept Mohammed Siraj in his place.”

“You could have done that because I feel Siraj would have had greater value. He would have been used more. He would have contributed more to the team and I see lesser chances of Jadeja playing. Honestly speaking, he might not play at all. So if Jadeja is not going to play, you would have had a player who would have had greater chances of playing,” he added.

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In the same video, Aakash Chopra stated that Mohammed Siraj had been one of Team India’s most successful ODI bowlers since January 2022 as well.

Mohammed Siraj

“Who has played the most ODIs in the last two (three) years, from Jan 1 2022 till now – Mohammed Siraj. Who has bowled the most overs – Mohammed Siraj. Who has bowled the most maidens – Mohammed Siraj. Who has the second-best economy after (Jasprit) Bumrah – Mohammed Siraj. Who has the second-best ODI figures in this period – Mohammed Siraj,” he said.

“Someone was telling me that he is not as effective with the old ball. We checked the metric for that as well. A user on X found out that Mohammed Siraj has been better after the 26th over than some of the best 10 bowlers in the world, which includes Kagiso Rabada, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, in the last year and a half,” Aakash Chopra concluded.