Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has made a sensational statement on the exclusion of Mohammed Siraj from the Indian squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Kritko has slammed India captain Rohit Sharma and the national selectors for ignoring Siraj for the tournament despite his consistent whitewash with the ball in recent years.
Aakash Chopra has strongly argued that Mohammed Siraj deserves a place in the 2025 Champions Trophy squad and would not mind even if Ravindra Jadeja could be the one to make way for the fast bowler for the prestigious tournament to be held in Pakistan and Dubai next month.
Aakash Chopra criticizes Mohammed Siraj’s exclusion and questions Ravindra Jadeja’s selection for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
Notably, the Indian selectors have picked Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh as the three primary fast bowlers, while opting for Axar Patel and Washington Sundar as the all-rounders along with Ravindra Jadeja in the spin department for the upcoming ICC. Champions Trophy 2025.
Kuldeep Yadav is the only specialist spinner in India’s Champions Trophy squad. Well, Chopra believes that the Indian cricket team has picked two left-armers and one off-spinner in the squad for the tournament, but according to him, the national selectors could have dropped one of them to accommodate Mohammed Siraj.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel, “In my opinion, Mohammed Siraj should have been a part of this team and I will even say in whose place he should have been there. The team has two left-arm spinners and one off-spinner. You could have dropped one out of three. If you wanted, you could have left out Ravindra Jadeja and kept Mohammed Siraj in his place.”
Siraj would have more value than Jadeja: Aakash Chopra
He boldly claimed that Ravindra Jadeja would not provide much of the value that Siraj could provide to the Men in Blue in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Chopra even claimed that Jadeja might not play in the tournament at all, so it would make more sense to have a player like Siraj, who offers a better chance of significant contribution.
The cricket expert added: “You could have done that because I feel Siraj would have had more value. It would be used more. He would contribute more to the team, and I see less chance for Jadeja to play. Frankly, he might not play at all. So if Jadeja is not going to play, you would have a player who would have a better chance of playing.”
Also Read: ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Mohammed Siraj breaks silence on ODIs
Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra criticized Rohit Sharma for his excuse to drop Mohammed Siraj for the upcoming 2025 Champions Trophy, highlighting the fiery pacer’s impressive stats in ODI cricket over the past few years. Namely, Rohit Sharma said that Siraj has lost his efficiency with the ball.
Aakash Chopra lashes out at Rohit Sharma for citing invalid reasons behind Mohammed Siraj’s disdain
As of January 2022, Siraj has played the most matches, bowled the most overs and bowled the most opening overs among Indian bowlers. The cricket expert also mentioned that Siraj has the second best economy rate, just behind Jasprit Bumrah. The former Indian batsman also said that Siraj is still one of the best pacers with the old ball.
Chopra signed off saying, “Someone told me he’s not that effective with the old ball. We also checked the metrics for it. A user on Xu revealed that Mohammed Siraj has been better after the 26th over than some of the top 10 bowlers in the world, including Kagiso Rabada, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, in the last year and a half.”
