Deepak Hooda
Deepak Hooda (Credits: Twitter)

Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan has reacted to Indian team-management’s decision to drop in-form Deepak Hooda for Virat Kohli. 

Before the start of the second T20I against England on Saturday (July 9), Team India sprung a huge surprise by dropping in-form Deepak Hooda from the playing eleven. The team-management took the decision to make room for returning Virat Kohli at number three.

Kohli was not a part of the T20I squad for the tour of Ireland as well as the first T20I of the ongoing series. He was expected to walk in straightaway in the playing eleven for the second T20I but not many had predicted that Hooda would make room for him.

Hooda has been in stunning form on the ongoing tour of UK. He began his tour of the UK with a quickfire unbeaten knock of 47 against Ireland while opening the innings. The right-handed batsman followed it up with a sensational century in the second T20I against the same opposition.

Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel
Deepak Hooda with Axar Patel (Credits: Twitter)

He then scored an impressive fifty during the warm-up game against Derbyshire before scoring 33 off 17 balls against England in the first T20I. Before the tour, he had a good campaign in the IPL too where he scored 451 runs in 15 games  at a strike rate of 136.66.

Also Read: He’s Destroying Indian Cricket: Fans Slam Virat Kohli As He Flops Again After Replacing In-form Deepak Hooda

Irfan Pathan reacts to team-management’s decision:

Deepak Hooda’s form, however, counted for little as the Indian team-management decided to drop him from the playing eleven for the second T20I against England for Virat Kohli. The former India skipper, however, failed to justify the team-management’s decision,

He was out for just 1 off 3 balls. unsurprisingly, the team-management’s decision to drop Hooda has not gone down well with many. Not only the fans but former India allrounder Irfan Pathan has also criticised the move.

Virat Kohli (Credits: Twitter)

Soon after the playing eleven was announced, the former cricketer-turned-commentator took to Twitter to react to the news as he called it unfortunate for Hooda. Expressing his disappointment, Pathan tweeted: “Very unfortunate for Deepak Hooda to miss out in this red hot form.”