Former India opener turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that Shikhar Dhawan should come into the Indian side for the third and final ODI against the West Indies in place of Rishabh Pant. Dhawan missed the first two ODIs as he tested positive for COVID-19. While Ishan Kishan opened the batting alongside Rohit Sharma in the first ODI, Pant did in the second.
And, Aakash Chopra said: “It is being heard that Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer are all available. I feel you should play Shikhar Dhawan. If Shikhar plays, who goes out? That’s a big question that might be in your mind. I would say that you rest Rishabh Pant. At this point in time, you are not doing him any justice.”
Chopra observed: “Why I am saying that is because you are anyway moving him up and down the order, play him at No. 4 in one match and make him open in the other. I mean you are not doing him any favor.”
Meanwhile, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav are good at No. 4 and No. 5 as well. Aakash Chopra feels Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav should continue to be in the playing XI in the final game.
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He reasoned: “Don’t touch Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav at the moment. Rishabh Pant will play the T20s as well, he is a certainty in all three formats at this point in time. So I will say get Shikhar Dhawan and rest Rishabh Pant. The other thinking could be that Rohit Sharma takes a break but he has just come after taking a break, he has not played cricket in any case in the last one-and-a-half months. So why should Rohit Sharma take a break? Why should Rahul also take a break – no one wants to take a break.”
Aakash Chopra also believes Virat Kohli should decide on whether he needs a break to get his form back. However, Kohli failed to do well in the first two matches. While he seemed overly aggressive in the first match, he played differently in the second game.
Aakash Chopra said: “There has been a lot of talks that Kohli should be asked to rest, that you are not having a great time, take a break now also and if you like, don’t play the T20s as well. I will never keep that proposal in front of Virat Kohli. It is fine if he himself says that he wants to take a break.”
He explained: “You are talking about Virat Kohli. It does not happen that a legend does not remain a legend because of slight bad form. When you go through bad form, we all have gone through that more compared to Kohli, you want to play regularly at times. You don’t want a break.”
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Aakash Chopra also opened up on Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi’s game time. He also stated that Deepak Chahar instead of Shardul Thakur could be the only change to be seen in the Indian bowling lineup.
He reasoned: “Can there be a change in the bowling? You cannot play Kuldeep Yadav because if you play Kuldeep or Ravi Bishnoi in one match, you will not do justice to them as well. The players who are playing – Prasidh Krishna, Siraj, Shardul Thakur or Washington Sundar – have not played 50 matches.”
“You have such an inexperienced bowling attack. Only Chahal is experienced and you had put his confidence down to the ground for such a long time. I will say don’t make any change. Maybe outside chance is to play Deepak for Shardul but I won’t be unhappy at all if you don’t do that,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
