Media365
NEW DELHI: Former India opener Aakash Chopra has questioned the team management’s decision to leave out Mohammed Siraj from the ODI setup, insisting he “cannot wrap his head around” how one of India’s most successful recent pacers has suddenly been reduced to a red-ball specialist. His comments came after India failed to defend 359 in the second ODI against South Africa in Raipur, despite hundreds from Virat Kohli and Ruturaj Gaikwad.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Chopra, in a sharply worded video on his X account, said it makes “absolutely no sense” that Siraj is out of the white-ball plans at a time when India’s young pacers are struggling.
“Can you understand what is happening with Mohammed Siraj? I cannot understand at all. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that he has become a one-format player,” he said.Siraj has taken 73 wickets in 47 ODIs at an average of 24.67 and an economy rate of just 5.17, and was India’s top wicket-taker in the format two years ago. Chopra stressed that India praised Siraj endlessly for his passion and wicket-taking ability in Tests, yet ignored him in limited overs.“When he plays Test cricket, we are so effusive of him… but how did he vanish from ODI cricket? When did this happen?” he added.
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Should Mohammed Siraj be included in the ODI squad?
While Siraj, currently playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Hyderabad, is not part of the South Africa white-ball series, Harshit Rana (1/70) and Prasidh Krishna (2/85) — who both leaked runs heavily in Raipur — were preferred instead./Chopra was blunt about the inconsistency: “Others are playing — Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna — but Mohammed Siraj is nowhere to be seen. Why did this happen? Personally, I don’t know. When did he become a single-format player?”
