If you are not going to play Shreyas Iyer, then pick Ayush Badoni or Shahbaz Ahmed: Aakash Chopra

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has slammed the Indian team management for not including Shreyas Iyer in the playing XI in the fourth T20I against New Zealand, which hosts suffered a 50-run loss in Visakhapatnam.

Speaking exclusively to ESPNCricinfo, Chopra asserted that if India doesn’t want to give Shreyas Iyer a chance in the XI, they should’ve picked someone like Ayush Badoni or Shahbaz Ahmed instead.

Notably, India entered the fourth T20I, having won the series by 3-0. Interestingly, the hosts experimented with six batters and five proper bowling options for the first time in recent times, as they fared badly in the humongous chase.

"I find it slightly baffling. I was of the opinion that India did the right thing by playing both Sanju [Samson] and Ishan when Tilak was unavailable even though Shreyas Iyer was picked in the team. Shreyas is not in the World Cup squad and I get it. But when you lose Ishan as well, then Iyer must play. If you're going to go in with just six batters, I mean, that's not right. And I'm not even talking about the result,” Aakash Chopra said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

"If you are not going to play Shreyas Iyer at all, which is quite clear now, irrespective of who goes out, then pick Ayush Badoni or Shahbaz Ahmed or somebody else - some youngster who gets an opportunity to be in the Indian dressing room and not Shreyas Iyer. He's not going to benefit one bit just warming the bench and watching five games from outside,” he added.

"If we are looking at everything with an eye on the T20 World Cup, we should have won batted first after winning the toss. We have already won the series, so we should have prepared for the World Cup. Maybe you might have to defend a total with a wet ball on some day. This was an opportunity that India let go,” he concluded.

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