Aakash Chopra believes Shakib Al Hasan would have been selected for KKR if he was a Kiwi

When the 45th match of the Indian Premier League was taking place between Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings. As soon as the proceeding of the match began, it came to the notice of fans that Andre Russell is injured and as an overseas replacement has to be roped in, New Zealand's Tim Seifert was given a chance in the playing XI.

In the same light of events, former cricketer and analyst Aakash Chopra took a sly dig at KKR management. It is known that Bangladesh's ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan is in the squad of KKR and has yet not got his chance so far.

Chopra added that Hasan could've got his chance easily instead of Seifert but management chose to go with the Kiwi player. It has to be noted that the head coach of KKR is New Zealand's Brendon McCullum and even Lockie Ferguson and Tim Southee are part of their squad. Hence, Chopra felt that there has been an inclination towards Kiwi players and took to his Twitter handle to express his opinion.

"If only Shakib were a Kiwi. #IPL2021" tweeted Aakash Chopra.

After the match though, in which KKR lost by five wickets, coach McCullum revealed that Shakib would be in contention for the next game. 

"Shakib will soon be available as well. We have a lot of options. Tim Seifert has been exceptional in the CPL 2021. We wanted to strengthen the middle order. Shakib is always in the mix when you talk about selection. His skills set with left-arm bowling and batting, we consider him as top 3 batters but definitely, he can fit in the middle order somewhere. He will be in the mix for sure in the next game," Brendon McCullum said.