"His name is there despite his Zimbabwe tour not being that good" - Aakash Chopra on Riyan Parag's selection for IND vs SL T20I series

Aakash Chopra has noted that Riyan Parag has been selected for India's upcoming white-ball series against Sri Lanka despite his slightly underwhelming performances in the recent T20I series against Zimbabwe. He observed that the Assam player has been picked ahead of Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who performed well against the Chevrons.

The Men in Blue will face the Lankan Lions in three T20Is and as many ODIs, with the first T20I to be played in Pallekele on July 27. The selectors chose the squads for both formats on Thursday, July 18.

Reflecting on the T20I squad in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out that Shubman Gill's appointment as vice-captain ahead of Hardik Pandya and Parag being preferred over Abhishek and Gaikwad are among the big stories.

"Shubman Gill is the vice-captain and that's a big story. Hardik Pandya was the Indian team's vice-captain in the World Cup. He also performed very well. India won the World Cup as well but after that, his name is not there as a vice-captain," he said (3:45).

"Riyan Parag's name is there in both teams, in ODIs and as well as T20Is. His name is there despite his Zimbabwe tour not being that good. Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad's names are not there. I am talking about T20Is. Both their names are not there but Riyan Parag's is there. That says something," the former India opener added.

Parag aggregated 24 runs at a strike rate of 88.88 in two innings in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. While Abhishek smashed 124 runs, including a century, at a strike rate of 174.64 in four innings, Gaikwad amassed 133 runs at a strike rate of 158.33 in three knocks in the same series.

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"You can understand that he has come in place of Ravindra Jadeja" - Aakash Chopra on Washington Sundar's selection

Washington Sundar was the Player of the Series against Zimbabwe. [P/C: BCCI/X]

Aakash Chopra noted that Washington Sundar and Ravi Bishnoi have replaced the retired Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal respectively, comparing it to India's T20 World Cup squad.

"Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson are both a part of this team. They were there in the World Cup as well. Washington Sundar has come. You can understand that he has come in place of Ravindra Jadeja. Ravi Bishnoi has come. You can understand that he has come in place of Yuzi Chahal," he said in the same video (4:30).

While observing that he isn't reading much into Kuldeep Yadav's omission, the cricketer-turned-commentator opined that Chahal's non-selection might imply the end of the road for him in T20Is.

"Kuldeep Yadav is also not there here. Kuldeep Yadav hasn't been picked in T20Is. I am not reading too much into it although it seems like coach Gambhir likes all-rounders. It seems like Yuzi Chahal's bags are packed in T20Is. Yuzi's name is not there in the ODI team as well, which is another point of discussion," Chopra stated.

Chopra noted that Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar, who played in the Zimbabwe series, haven't been picked for either format.

"Avesh Khan, who was part of the traveling reserves, is not part of any team. Mukesh Kumar, who did very well recently, you cannot see his name as well. Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Mohammed Siraj are your three pacers," he observed.

With eight scalps, Mukesh Kumar was the joint-highest wicket-taker alongside Sundar in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. Avesh Khan picked up six wickets in three games in that series.