Former India opener Aakash Chopra has questioned India’s decision to drop Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for the fourth T20I against New Zealand at Eden Park, Auckland, on October 30. With India having already secured an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, Chopra felt the team management missed an opportunity to give the young opener another chance in a match that had no impact on the series result.

Sooryavanshi had entered India’s playing XI as an injury replacement for Ishan Kishan, who suffered a low-grade right adductor strain after the opening T20I. The 15-year-old featured in the second and third matches, scoring 4 and 45 respectively, before making way for Kishan after the wicketkeeper-batter recovered and returned to the squad.

Aakash Chopra acknowledged that Sooryavanshi was the logical candidate to miss out once Kishan regained fitness. However, he questioned whether the team should have considered retaining the youngster, particularly with the series already decided.

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“Last match, Abhishek made 100 and Vaibhav missed his 50. But the batting was very good. After that, the question was, if Ishan is fit, who will go out. If you think philosophically, then the answer is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi since he replaced an injured Kishan. But this was a dead rubber,” Aakash Chopra said.

Kishan’s return to the playing XI did not go as expected. He was dismissed for a duck while India attempted to chase New Zealand’s massive target of 260 runs. The visitors eventually managed only 172/9, suffering an 87-run defeat despite having already wrapped up the series.

Chopra’s criticism centred on the uncertainty surrounding Sooryavanshi’s place in India’s plans. He questioned whether the youngster would only get opportunities when an established player was unavailable, adding that regular cricket was important for his development.

“The decision to drop Vaibhav Sooryavanshi leads to a bigger question. Will you play Vaibhav Sooryavanshi only when someone is injured? Or when someone is unavailable? If that is the case, you can send him home,” Aakash Chopra said. “You can tell him to go and play first-class cricket. Of course, he can learn by staying in the Indian dressing room. But if it’s happening for an extended period, he should get bat on ball,” he added.

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The former opener also urged the team management to communicate its long-term plans for Sooryavanshi rather than leaving his role unclear.

“The team should come out and share what their roadmap and philosophy is. Maybe they have already thought about it and have already charted out a plan. But they haven’t told anybody. As such, we don’t know what they are going to do with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. His absence was a little disappointing,” Aakash Chopra said.