In the third T20I against England on Sunday (July 10), India chose Shreyas Iyer over the in-form Deepak Hooda, which surprised former pacer RP Singh. Hooda has been in solid form having scored his maiden T20I hundred against Ireland late last month. 

The 27-year-old hasn't made the starting XI in the last two matches, despite India making four changes for the third T20I.

Speaking on Cricbuzz's YouTube channel, Singh expressed astonishment that Hooda didn't make the team for the final game and claimed that he would have chosen Hooda over Shreyas Iyer if he had been the captain.

“You must play someone who is in form, Deepak Hooda was in form as he has scored so many runs. But by playing Iyer, you are trying to get him back in his form which is beyond my understanding. If I was the captain, I would have played Deepak Hooda,” he said.

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Parthiv Patel, the former Indian wicketkeeper-batter, too voiced his disappointment with the team’s choice not to go ahead with the 27-year-old. He remarked that Iyer was given the chance because of his strong performance before the IPL and believed that the consistency demonstrated by Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma in terms of team selection wasn't on display on Sunday.

“I am really surprised. For some time this Indian team management under Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma had shown some consistency. But that wasn’t on display here today. It is a different thought process and I am a little surprised. Maybe, he (Shreyas) got the opportunity because he had done well before IPL,” Patel said.

The ‘Men in Blue’ were set a target of 216 by England. Suryakumar Yadav’s resolute hundred (117 off 55 balls) almost drove the team home before he got out in the penultimate over. Eventually, they fell short of the target by 17 runs but won the series 2-1.

The T20I series will be followed by a 3-match ODI series which begins on Tuesday (July 12) at the Oval Stadium.

(CRICBUZZ INPUTS)