Team India is currently struggling in the ongoing 1st T20I against New Zealand in Ranchi. Despite getting wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs, the Indian bowlers leaked runs at the death to give New Zealand a chance to post a competitive total on board. Arshdeep Singh once again was expensive in the death overs as the pacer gave away 27 runs in the final over of the innings.
India's inability to restrict the opposition at the death forced former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra to question Harshal Patel's exclusion from the squad. The commentator took to Twitter and inquired if Harshal is recovering from any injury as he isn't been part of India's T20 setup for a while. However, senior sports journalist, Vikrant Gupta, confirmed to Chopra that Harshal is fit and is playing in Ranji Trophy.
In reply to Vikrant's tweet, Aakash expressed his disappointment and said that the Indian pacer has fallen out of favour too soon.
However, Indian cricket fans didn't like Aakash Chopra's comment and hit back at the former cricketer by reminding him about Harshal Patel's poor records in his recent matches.
After leaking 176 runs with the ball, Team India struggled right from the start as the side lost 3 wickets inside the powerplay. In-form Shubman Gill couldn't continue his dream ODI form in T20Is as the opener departed cheaply on 7. Ishan Kishan also couldn't contribute much as the wicketkeeper batter got dismissed on 4. Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya tried to rebuild the innings but New Zealand bowlers, led by Mitchell Santner kept on taking wickets.
