Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has shared the significance of Rinku Singh’s impressive performances in the T20I series between India and Australia from next year’s T20 World Cup perspective as well. The Indian team beat the Aussies by six runs in the final T20I in Bengaluru on Sunday to complete a 4-1 series win.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “This was an important series for Rinku Singh because he is your only batter who bats at this number. He is doing so now and will do it for the Kolkata Knight Riders as well. He plays at No. 5 and sometimes at No. 6 wherever he plays. These numbers (No. 5 and No. 6) are very important. So it was important for him to do well.”

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The former India opener further added: “This series was extremely important for him and India from the T20 World Cup perspective – somebody who can bat at No. 5 or No. 6, and he is a left-hander as well. You will find that you have a lot of left-handers in your team currently but as soon as the World Cup comes, you will say you don’t have a left-hander.”

However, Aakash Chopra also stated that the Indian team will be on the lookout for left-handers if their experienced players are back in the team for the T20 World Cup as well. And, he also added that Rinku could compete with Tilak Varma for a left-handed middle-order batter’s position in India’s T20 World Cup squad as well.

He added: “Rohit (Sharma) and (Virat) Kohli will come, Shreyas (Iyer) and Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) are there, I don’t know (KL) Rahul maybe, Hardik (Pandya) – they are all right-handers, so who is a left-hander? So Rinku Singh was very important for me and this series was very good for him. His mindset, the way he plays, and the temperament he shows – we can ignore the last match, where according to me, he played a bad shot to get out. It wasn’t the right time to try that shot. He just went a little too soon. He should have taken the game slightly deeper.”