"Where is Avesh Khan?" - Aakash Chopra on seamer not being picked for IND vs SL series after being among India's T20 World Cup reserves
Aakash Chopra has questioned Avesh Khan's non-selection for India's recently concluded white-ball series against Sri Lanka. He opined that a clear roadmap should be created to groom seamers like Avesh and Prasidh Krishna.
Despite Jasprit Bumrah being rested for the Sri Lanka tour, Avesh wasn't picked in India's squad for both the T20I and ODI series. While Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, and Khaleel Ahmed were selected for the shortest format, Harshit Rana was picked for the ODIs along with them.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra was asked whether India should invest in Avesh and Krishna to groom them in Bumrah and Mohammed Shami's presence.
"It's a good question because the team recently went for the T20 World Cup and Avesh Khan was in the reserves. After that, where is Avesh Khan? If we want to invest in him, Avesh Khan should have been around. He should have been there on the Sri Lanka tour and he should have played matches in Zimbabwe as well. Where was he - nowhere to be seen," he responded (7:50).
"I personally rate Prasidh Krishna very highly although his numbers are not looking very good in T20Is. He has been hit a lot whenever he has played but I would like to invest. He has the potential to be a very good bowler at the highest level also. So they should start investing in him from now itself and there should be a clear roadmap for Avesh Khan as well," the former India opener added.
Chopra noted that India caps shouldn't be distributed. He cited the example of Chetan Sakariya, who played an ODI and two T20Is but is no longer in the scheme of things.
"Not in the near future" - Aakash Chopra on when Suryakumar Yadav would play for India in ODIs and Tests
Aakash Chopra was also asked when Suryakumar Yadav would play for India in ODIs and Tests.
"Not in the near future. I think that decision has been taken. ODI cricket is played less now in any case and the team has decided now itself that they are not keeping him for the Champions Trophy and will consider him a T20 specialist," he replied in the same video (7:10).
While observing that the middle-order batter is not being considered for ODIs currently, the cricketer-turned-commentator added that he is virtually out of contention for the longest format.
"It also means there is no chance at all in Tests. There is a different level of competition for Tests. There are so many players who are knocking on the door and want to break it and come in. The players who have scored runs, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, I feel they might not play the next Test. So SKY is not going to play 50-over and five-day cricket now," Chopra said.
Suryakumar has aggregated 773 runs at an underwhelming average of 25.76 in 37 ODIs. He managed only eight runs in his solitary knock in Tests.