Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has named India’s probable XI for the first T20I against the West Indies at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba on Friday, July 29. Team India will have their regular captain Rohit Sharma back at the helm after being rested for the ODI series as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra selected Rohit, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer as India’s likely top three players, saying: “What is the XI you will play? That is the biggest problem, win or loss is on one side, picking the XI is on the other side. The XI I am picking is Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer at No. 3.”
While saying that the Indian team management is expected to prefer Shreyas over Deepak Hooda, Chopra picked Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik to complete his top six as well.
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The former Indian opener elaborated: “I feel Shreyas Iyer will get an opportunity to play at No. 3 because he is ahead in the pecking order although I feel Hooda should play but who am I. SKY at No. 4 and Hardik Pandya at No. 5, and after that Dinesh Karthik, that makes it your top six.”
Meanwhile, Deepak Hooda did well in the three T20Is he played against Ireland and England. While hoping Ravindra Jadeja is fit to play, Chopra wants Kuldeep Yadav to play in place of Ravichandran Ashwin.
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“I feel Jaddu will be fit now. It came out in the last match that he is still not available. I am expecting him to be fit, if he is not then Axar Patel, he is the obvious choice. I personally want Kuldeep Yadav to play, I am not playing Ravichandran Ashwin in my team. After that, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh. I am not playing Avesh, I am playing Arsh. I want to see Arsh because if you have set your sights on the T20 World Cup, then this is the time, play him right away is what I will say,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
Aakash Chopra’s predicted Indian XI for the 1st T20I: Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja/Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh
