Former cricketer Aakash Chopra has expressed optimism about India’s batting lineup ahead of the three-match Test series against New Zealand. He expects the team management to back the same top six that featured in the recent series against Bangladesh, comprising Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal as openers, followed by Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul.

According to Aakash Chopra, this lineup has the potential to perform exceptionally well in the upcoming series. Chopra is particularly hopeful about the opening pair of Rohit and Jaiswal, expecting them to shoulder the responsibility of scoring the majority of the runs. He believes that if the duo can collectively score over 350 runs during the series, it would be considered an outstanding performance.

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He holds similar expectations for Gill and Kohli, suggesting that anything between 300 to 350 runs from each would still make for a solid series. However, when it comes to KL Rahul, who bats lower in the order, Chopra tempers his expectations slightly. He mentions that scoring even 250 runs would be considered a good series for Rahul, given his position in the batting lineup.

“It’s a three-match series. Let’s start putting some parameters as to what performance will you term excellent. You get four to five, and sometimes six innings as a batter. If the two openers are in the 350-400 run bracket, you are outstanding. You assume at least 200-250 runs for an average series,” Aakash Chopra remarked on his YouTube channel.

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Aakash Chopra also highlighted the importance of this series for Rishabh Pant. As India’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter, Chopra has similar expectations from Pant as he does from the top four, indicating that Pant, too, will need to step up and make substantial contributions if India is to dominate New Zealand in the series.