Aakash questioned board’s decision in naming Axar Patel as vice captain for the series against England. According to Aakash, He was expecting to see Hardik Pandya appointed as the vice captain to Supershar Kumar Yadav. Former India opener was taken aback when BCCI announced 15 distinct players as part of the squad for five T20I matches commencing January 22, As discussed on Aakash’s Youtube channel regarding how the T20 format is still celebrated in India and about the T20I captaincy reshuffles during the past few years.

‘India has had 10 dekho captains in the last T20I’S in the past 5 years. As it stands, Yadav is the current captain. Ruturaj Gaikwad was the captain some time ago alongside that team was other hardik pandya captained for a long while, and then rohit and virat kohli. KL Rahul has Captained as well, gill also captained by thr,’ the cricketer-turned-commentator explained.

Shortly after Surya was crowned with the T20 championship, he assumed his position, assuming his permanent status. Before that he joined Pandya in leading several of India’s bilateral series with Rohit missing in action. The Captain all-rounder has amassed ten wins while participating in 16 T20I’s.

Considering his record as a captain, Chopra was left wondering why Pandya was not handed over the leadership role with respect to the England series. If not the captain, Chopra was of the opinion that he should have, at the very least, been appointed vice-captain when Rohit was booked to be replaced by Surya.

“What ultimately transpired is with Hardik Pandya? Hardik Pandya seems to have gone off the radar as no one is ruminating or mulling over his presence. What all actually went down? His T20 World Cup was quite promising and since then the domestic avenues have been knocking on his doorstep. He is the captain for an IPL franchise which has ruled five out of 6 T20I series under his captainship. There was a time when Hardik Pandya was the go to statement when Rohit was unfit," he said.

Chopra further enquired whether the selectors did take note of the last IPL where Pandya played as the Mumbai Indian’s captain. “You cannot hold him liable for the poor performance of the Mumbai Indians. Well, assume he had a gloomy season and his captaincy was also iffy, what business is it to the Indian team? The Indian team’s team does not choose captaincy based on it’s franchise team," he continued.

Pandya last played for Baroda during the Vijay hazard Trophy, as well as the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The 31-year-old gets back into action when India clash with England in the first T20I at Eden Gardens.