Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned India’s preparations for the 2024 T20 World Cup. He added that it should have been known from before that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will open the batting for the Indian team. India will face Ireland in their T20 World Cup opener in New York on Wednesday, June 5 as well. Since Yashasvi Jaiswal wasn’t given a chance in the warm-up game against Bangladesh, many believe Kohli will partner Rohit at the top of the order as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “There are chances of both openers being right-handed. They are your two most experienced players – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. It seems like Rishabh Pant will be sent at No. 3, Suryakumar Yadav will be at No. 4, and then if Surya gets out, Hardik Pandya will come, and if Pant gets out, Shivam Dube will come. It seems like the team composition will be like this. But I ask a different question. My question is – why are we coming to know about this now? Would it not have been ideal to know earlier that Virat and Rohit are going to open?”
ALSO READ: Kirti Azad welcomes BCCI’s new directive in central contract
Rohit and Jaiswal were potentially considered as India’s likely opening pair for the T20 World Cup before IPL 2024. However, Jaiswal’s slightly poor performances for the Rajasthan Royals (RR), along with Kohli’s sublime form at the top of the order for the Royal Challengers
Bengaluru (RCB), might have changed their plans as well.
“When the last World Cup ended, from then till now, to be honest, we are playing almost with the same XI or the batting personnel. Move them a little up and down, leave out KL Rahul and bring Shivam Dube in his place, it’s exactly the same. So we haven’t changed much. The interesting thing is that the roles that have been changed as well, no one was told that their roles are going to be changed – ‘We are changing but you will come to know about it in the World Cup’. Personally, not ideal at all. The main reason for that is that no senior played for one-and-a-half years after the World Cup ended. If you don’t play T20 cricket, you have never played together. You play for your respective franchises and come together in ODI cricket. The players are so senior that they know their roles well, they will do their job, but don’t we think everyone’s roles should be defined?,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
