Former India opener Aakash Chopra said that India must consider bringing Kuldeep Yadav into the playing XI for the second T20I against New Zealand in Christchurch on Saturday, October 24. He, however, added that the change is unlikely to happen since India are obsessed with having batting till No. 8.

During a discussion on Cricinfo, Chopra said: “Can you actually bring in Kuldeep Yadav somehow? When you look at New Zealand, they are not obsessed to have a batter at eight. They’re quite okay. Seven batters, yes, they do have all-rounders, and then followed by bowlers. India is not. So, they will always be either a fast bowler short or a spinner short in this case.”

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“They’ve gone with three fast bowlers. In New Zealand, it does make sense that you’ll have a slightly heavier workload for the faster bowlers. But, when you look at the second T20, it’s a very quick turnaround. You would expect that pitch to just be even more spin-friendly. So, if that’s the case, just think about Kuldeep Yadav, is what I’d say. But again, it remains to be seen if India will bite the bullet,” Chopra further added.

Asked for his personal opinion on Team India’s bowling combination, Aakash Chopra said that he would want Kuldeep in the playing XI.

“I would like Kuldeep to be in the side; there’s no doubt about it. Because I still feel if you have a bowler of his quality, his caliber, also on a venue, which is a fairly decent-sized ground, he will be a wicket-taker. So you can use him and you can actually somehow in the middle overs at least, you can look for wickets instead of just trying to defend,” he concluded.