Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has added that Abhishek Sharma will be tested in the second T20I against England in Chennai. He said that Chepauk has big side boundaries and that England bowlers will likely trouble him with bouncers. However,
Abhishek smashed 79 runs off 34 deliveries in India’s seven-wicket win in the first T20I in Kolkata on Wednesday, January 22.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said: “Abhishek Sharma has played an excellent knock, but the side boundaries will be big here. I don’t think they will start with Gus Atkinson here. Mark Wood will be there with Jofra (Archer) and the bouncers will be bowled. I feel that will be a very good examination. It will be interesting for Sanju Samson as well. He thrashed Gus (Atkinson), 22 runs in an over, but didn’t score that many runs against anyone else. These are tall bowlers who bowl with effort and if someone goes so deep in the crease, which Sanju is going, it becomes slightly difficult to turn and play the shot off the back foot as the weight transfer doesn’t happen that well.”
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In the same video, Aakash Chopra also said Varun Chakaravarthy, the Player of the Match in the first T20I, a thinking cricketer as well.

“Varun Chakaravarthy said a very good thing. He said that he used to do side-spin earlier and is now focusing on over-spin. He is a thinking cricketer. He watched a lot of his videos and understood why he wasn’t able to pick up wickets and put batters under pressure. So is this the way to go, and he has flourished. He has been incredible since he made his comeback. He hasn’t turned and looked back. He has consistently picked up wickets and the ball he hit on Liam Livingstone’s stumps, it again reminded me that no matter how many sixes you might have hit and come, you can’t do anything if you are unable to read spin from the hand,” Aakash Chopra concluded.