Former India opener, Aakash Chopra says that Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma may have been picked ahead of Ishan Kishan for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan as they can bat in the middle-order.
The Indian selector committee has announced a 16-member squad for the upcoming T20I series against Afghanistan starting on Thursday. The three-match series will be played at Mohali, Bengaluru, and Indore respectively. While speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash told that no reason has been stated for electing Samson ahead of Kishan for the forthcoming Afghanistan series.
“Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson are the two wicketkeepers, although Samson wasn’t kept as a keeper in the last two series. Ishan Kishan was going as a keeper but he is not there now. Nobody knows why Ishan Kishan isn’t there, that’s a different story,” Aakash said.
The former India cricketer suggested that the shortage of empty top-order spots may have forced the selectors to choose Samson and Jitesh over Kishan.
“You have suddenly filled up the opening slot. Virat Kohli plays at No. 3, he doesn’t play at No. 4. So the keeper has to bat down the order. You have only two keeping options who can bat down the order, one is Jitesh Sharma and the other is Sanju Samson,” the cricketer-turned-commentator asserted.
Ishan Kishan opted out from the recently concluded two-match Test series played between India and South Africa at Centurion and Cape Town respectively which finished at a scoreline of 1-1.
