Former Indian batsman Aakash Chopra picked five players from India’s squad for the Sri Lanka series that he believes can have a groundbreaking series in Sri Lanka. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named several youngsters in Sri Lanka-bound team, which will play three ODIs and three T20Is.
Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Yuzvendra Chahal are senior players in the squad while several young faces are also in the team who earned their maiden national callup. Chetan Sakariya, K Gowtham, Nitish Rana and several others are new faces in the lineup.
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Meanwhile, in the buildup of the series, Aakash Chopra named five players to watch out for. His first two picks are Varun Chakravarthy and Prithvi Shaw. Chakravarthy has been named in the Indian squad prior to this series as well but was unfortunate to miss due to different reasons. However, he can finally make his debut this time around. Shaw has been in tremendous form lately and is expected to carry his form forward against Sri Lanka as well.
“The first name on my list is someone who has never played international cricket. His name is Varun Chakravarthy. If we see the Indian bowling department, a mystery spinner is not there. Once you have a mystery spinner, you feel your bowling is complete,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“The second player I am thinking about is Prithvi Shaw. Given the form he is in, 2021 is his year. He can leave anyone behind when he is batting, you can put any Indian batsman at the other end. If he shines, that will be fantastic.”
Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Chahar and one of the wicketkeeper batsmen in Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan complete Chopra’s list of five players. Suryakumar Yadav is likely to bat at number three while Deepak Chahar has already shown his calibre in white-ball cricket recently.
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“At number three, I have kept Suryakumar Yadav. He has been absolutely sensational, there is no doubt about that. The ability to bat both up and down the order separates him from the rest. He has got the all-round game,” Chopra added.
“At number four, I have kept Deepak Chahar. Generally, he always plays in the T20s but if we see the last series, he was in the team but was not given a chance. He is the same bowler who has the world record. He can do well in the ODIs as well.”
He believes one from Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson should have a good time in the middle and knock on the door of the first team.
“Last but not least, there is a toss-up between Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson. When you see towards the Indian team, you have KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the wicket-keeper options, but you might need an additional batsman,” Chopra described.
India’s series against Sri Lanka got rescheduled to start from 18 July after players from the Sri Lankan team were tested Covid-19 positive.
