"Till sometime back, Umran was everywhere.....": Aakash's poser on pacer not finding place in teams

New Delhi [India], January 9 (ANI): Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has raised questions over young pacer Umran Malik's continuous absence from selections over the last few months, pointing out that at one point, it seemed he could play the ICC Cricket World Cup last year at home.
Star opener Rohit Sharma and batter Virat Kohli returned to India's T20I squad against Afghanistan as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday revealed a 16-player roster for three-match T20I series, starting on January 11. While the side still has plenty of young talent, Umran continues to sit out in the sidelines.
The 24-year-old pacer, who had come to limelight during the Indian Premier League (IPL) with his stint for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in which he picked 22 wickets in 14 matches, gathered headlines for often crossing the 150 kmph mark while bowling in IPL and at international level in his matches.
He had last played an international match for India in July 2023 against West Indies.
"Till some time back, Umran Malik was everywhere. We took him to the West Indies as well and it seemed like he could be in the World Cup team too but now he is not there in any of the teams. He does not even get selected for India A," said Aakash on his Youtube Channel.
"What happened within three months that a guy first gets selected for the Indian team, gets very minimum chances there, and then goes totally missing? We do not even know where Umran Malik is. Why is not he there? We should know why this is happening," he added.
Once hailed as the 'X Factor' of Indian bowling, Umran has played just 10 ODIs and eight T20Is for India, picking up 13 and 11 wickets respectively. In his 2023 IPL stint with SRH, he could play just eight matches, in which he picked five wickets.
Chopra also talked about middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer's omission from the squad against Afghanistan, asking why was not he featured despite being a vice-captain during the five-match T20I series against Australia just after the 50-over World Cup.
"When I look at the recent selection, I see Shreyas Iyer. There was a five-match series immediately after the World Cup, so he was rested for the first two or three matches but then he joined the team as a vice-captain. He scored a fifty in the last match against Australia as well. It was a match-winning knock," said Aakash.
"Then he went to South Africa as well but now he is not in the team. Why is he not there? If he was a part of your team, what happened to him now, suddenly? What will you tell Shreyas Iyer, that why has not he been picked," concluded Aakash.
In his 51-match T20I career, Iyer has scored 1,104 runs at an average of 30.66 and a strike rate of over 136, with eight half-centuries. His best score is 74*.
The T20I series between India and Afghanistan will kick off on January 11 in Mohali; the second game will be played on January 14 in Indore; and the series will conclude on January 17 in Bengaluru.
The Afghanistan series is India's last bilateral T20I series before the T20 World Cup, which starts on June 1.
India's Squad for three T20Is against Afghanistan: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar. (ANI)