Former India opener turned commentator Aakash Chopra has stated that he doesn’t want to be India’s Test batsman Hanuma Vihari now, considering the way the youngster has been treated. However, Vihari had played a match-saving partnership with R Ashwin in the Sydney Test against Australia with a hamstring injury. But, his heroics were unnoticed and he was not even included in the Indian squad for the home series against New Zealand and did not play the first Test against South Africa in Centurion as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra opened up on his future, saying: “He will be sad. Honestly speaking, I don’t want to be Hanuma Vihari right now because you don’t play me a match at home. Last time when I had played for India, my hamstring was torn, but despite that I batted and saved India in Sydney.”
He continued: “After that, when the matches are there at home, you don’t play me. You play someone else at home and tell me to go to South Africa and get ready and that they will play me there. I go to South Africa and get ready as well, score runs after swallowing a bitter pill but still you don’t play me. If you don’t want to play me, what are you doing with me?”
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Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer has made a stunning debut in the Kanpur Test against New Zealand, where he smashed a hundred and a fifty as well. And, Vihari, at the same time, has played against South Africa A as part of the India A team. He was again ignored for the first Test against the Proteas, where an out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane was selected ahead of him. Aakash Chopra further added:
“He has got every right to be unhappy. I am sure Rahul Dravid would have spoken to him, Kohli would have also spoken and explained to him. Explanation is fine but the pain is felt only by whoever gets injured. We cannot feel what must be going through Hanuma Vihari’s mind at the moment, we can only show empathy. I don’t think he will be very happy with the way his Test career is shaping up because he should have been played. He should have been played the Kanpur Test and probably the Centurion one also. Play him a few matches in India as well, I am not particularly happy about that,” Aakash Chopra again shared.
He also believes with the current thinking of the Indian selectors and team management, young India spinner Kuldeep Yadav would never going to be selected for the ODI series against South Africa. Notably, he hasn’t been selected in India’s 18-member squad for the upcoming three ODIs against the Proteas. Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar have been added.
Chopra stated: “Honestly speaking, there was no chance also because in our country and cricket some winds blow and the way the winds are blowing, they have said that Kuldeep Yadav is completely out of favour. There was a time when Yuzi and Kuldeep played together and did very well. At one point, they had played 25 matches together and picked up more than 100 wickets, which means four wickets per game.”
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However, Yadav and Chahal together picked up 33 wickets in the six ODIs they played in the 2018 tour of South Africa. Their stunning shows helped the team register a 5-1 win in the series as well.
Aakash Chopra stated: “But then everything changed. One match went bad, you are reminded of the Birmingham match at the World Cup and after that, suddenly they didn’t play together at all. Either one plays or the other but both don’t play together and now one is not there at all and in between the other’s name was also not there.”
“Washington Sundar and Ravichandran Ashwin are there, Ravindra Jadeja is not there but despite that Kuldeep Yadav is not there. Indian cricket is like that, it keeps changing, the winds are blowing in that direction now. So somebody else is the flavor of the season. It is possible Kuldeep Yadav is back after one year and we might be taking him to the World Cup,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
