“Unfortunately, Rahul Tripathi cannot get into the Indian squad” - Aakash Chopra sees no vacancy for batter despite impressive IPL performances

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra reckons that in-form batter Rahul Tripathi is unlikely to find a place in the national team despite being consistently good in the IPL over the last few seasons.

The 31-year-old has been one of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) star performers with the willow in IPL 2022 so far. He has smashed 205 runs in six matches at a strike rate of 173.73. Last season, he scored 397 runs in 17 matches for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at a strike rate of 140.28.

In a question-and-answer session on his YouTube channel, Chopra was asked if the SRH batter could find a place in the Indian team on the basis of his impressive IPL performances. Lavishing high praise on the right-hander, the 44-year-old lamented that it doesn’t look possible, explaining:

“Unfortunately, Rahul Tripathi cannot get into the Indian squad. I really like him a lot. Since he has started playing IPL, he has been my favorite uncapped Indian. He has done well every year. He is not a one-season wonder. He did not have second-season blues either. He has played for different teams over the years -Pune, Kolkata and now Hyderabad - and has scored runs for everyone. Always puts team before self. He is a selfless cricketer who gives it his all.”

The right-handed batter made his IPL debut in the 2017 season and has featured in every subsequent edition of the T20 league.

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“Tripathi is in a long queue” - Aakash Chopra

Explaining why he doesn’t think the in-form batter can progress to the Indian team as of now, Chopra pointed out that there is no vacancy in the top order. He elaborated:

“Tripathi is in a long queue. He is scoring runs in the top-order, but there is no vacancy at the top in the Indian batting. Maybe if he plays lower in the order and performs there, we can think about it. I firmly believe that players who perform a particular role, should be asked to continue doing the same.”

Citing the example of Team India and KKR all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, Chopra added:

“We did that with Venkatesh Iyer (shuffling his batting order), and now it seems like he is neither here nor there. So, if we look at picking players slot-wise, Tripathi’s number might not come.”

Tripathi has 1590 runs to his name from 68 IPL matches at an average of 27.89 and a strike rate of 140.21. His SRH team are currently fifth in the table with eight points from six games. Hyderabad will next be in action when they take on Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday, 23 April.

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