Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra added that Team India should not prepare a rank turner for the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam as this could backfire on them. Talking about the Indian batting unit’s lack of form, he further added that a decent surface would augment their chances of winning as well. However, Team India started with a loss in the first Test where they went down to England by 28 runs in Hyderabad. And, now, they have faced multiple setbacks before the second Test, with senior batter KL Rahul and veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja ruled out due to injury.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “There is a problem with self-doubt. If we prepare a good pitch, they [England] play better than us. Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer are in poor form. We do not have Rahul. Virat Kohli was already absent. Ravindra Jadeja, the all-rounder is also not there. Suddenly, you are stuck. I feel they should play on a good pitch. Don’t get overexcited and go for a turning pitch. Your batters do not have form. In such a situation, the spinners of both sides become equally effective. They do not have accuracy, but how does it matter? Tom Hartley begins bowling like Bishan Bedi and Joe Root becomes Muttiah Muralitharan.”
READ MORE: “I want to play cricket for as long as I can” – Nathan Lyon
Aakash Chopra also shared that on a decent surface, England will come hard at Team India, and he urged the hosts to pick wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav and hope that he can do well against England’s batters.
“Of their last three Tests at home, India have not won even one. In fact, they have lost two, while one match ended in a draw. They prepared a rank turner in Indore and it backfired even though Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were available. India then prepared a flat pitch in Ahmedabad and the boring match ended nin a draw,” he said.“For Hyderabad, the pitch was a decent one. It could have been better to be fair. Maybe there was a bit too much turn on Day 1. There is bounce and pace in Hyderabad and I feel there was an attempt to nullify that, which was not ideal,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
