Former India opener turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra named the Indian management’s
decision not to pick Shreyas Iyer in the playing XI for the fourth T20I against New Zealand as baffling. As per Chopra, once Ishan Kishan was ruled out due to a niggle, Shreyas Iyer should have been the ideal choice as well.

Sharing his thoughts on this, Aakash Chopra told ESPNcricinfo: “I find it slightly baffling. I was of the opinion that India did the right thing by playing both Sanju [Samson] and Ishan when Tilak was unavailable even though Shreyas Iyer was picked in the team. Shreyas is not in the World Cup squad and I get it. But when you lose Ishan as well, then Iyer must play. If you’re going to go in with just six batters, I mean, that’s not right. And I’m not even talking about the result.”

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“If you are not going to play Shreyas Iyer at all, which is quite clear now, irrespective of who goes out, then pick Ayush Badoni or Shahbaz Ahmed or somebody else – some youngster who gets an opportunity to be in the Indian dressing room and not Shreyas Iyer. He’s not going to benefit one bit just warming the bench and watching five games from outside,” he further added.

Apart from the decision to not select Shreyas Iyer in the playing XI in Visakhapatnam, Chopra also added that India made a mistake by not batting first after winning the toss. He shared that India might
have to bowl with the wet ball during the T20 World Cup as well.

“If we are looking at everything with an eye on the T20 World Cup, we should have won batted first after winning the toss. We have already won the series, so we should have prepared for the World Cup. Maybe you might have to defend a total with a wet ball on some day. This was an opportunity that India let go,” Aakash Chopra concluded.