Chopra reckons Manish Pandey's career might be in danger after exclusion from England T20s

With India announcing its squad for the upcoming T20 series against England, cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra raised questions over the snub of Manish Pandey. While Chopra expressed delight over the inclusion of Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Rahul Tewatia, he expressed that Manish Pandey's career might be in danger after the snub. Pandey, who represents Karnataka in the domestic circuit, has had an on-off stint with the Indian team as he has been included in the squad but has rarely found a place in the playing XI. 

“Manish Pandey’s name usually features (in Indian limited-overs teams). This brings a question mark over his (international) career because he anyway doesn’t get many chances in the XI and now you are again looking at Pant and other options,” Chopra said in his YouTube channel.

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Pandey was part of India's limited-overs series against Australia but did not feature in the playing XI. While the reason behind Pandey's exclusion is unknown yet, it is expected that he did not make it to the list due to his elbow injury which had also ruled him out of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20.

Apart from Manish Pandey, now Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson also failed to make it into the squad. Commenting on Samson's exclusion, Chopra said that it was hard on the youngster but he has paid his price. “Two big names which are missing are of Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey. Samson did get his chance with the bat but it did not go well for him. And that’s the problem of T20. It’s very difficult to do well in that format. So Samson has paid the price. He showed glimpses of what he can do but he couldn’t carry on,” Chopra said.

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Tewatia gets maiden call-up 

Ahead of the 5-match T20 series against England, the BCCI on Saturday announced a power-packed 19-men squad led by skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma. After being ruled out of the Australia tour due to injury, IPL 2020 star Varun Chakravarthy earned his maiden call-up for the national team. The BCCI also called up Rahul Tewatia, who left his mark on IPL 2020, with some stellar show of power-hitting as he represented the Rajasthan Royals. 

Veteran speedster Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has also been included in the T20 squad after being sidelined for months due to injury. The pacer had sustained an injury during the IPL 2020 in UAE and had to pull out of the cash-rich tournament mid-way. The squad includes several players who had a brilliant IPL 2020 as Mumbai Indians' Suryakumar Yadav has also received his maiden India call up. Ishan Kishan, who gave a blistering audition on Saturday morning itself as he led Jharkhand to a massive victory in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, has also been included. 

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