Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s selection in India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against Afghanistan has given an answer to the most debatable question. How, the Indian team will take on Afghanistan in three T20Is, with the first game to be played in Mohali on Thursday, January 11. The selectors however named a 16-member Indian squad for the series on Sunday, with Rohit at the helm and Kohli return in the mix.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Let’s address the elephant in the room. Rohit is back as the captain. Interestingly enough, I could possibly give you in writing that if this team had been picked within six months of the 2022 T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli wouldn’t have been there. The sentiment at that time was very different. You didn’t see either of them in the Indian XI for a year. It wasn’t even a point of discussion. It’s not that they were unavailable everywhere. They might have been available in some places but the selectors said they were looking in a different direction.”
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Aakash Chopra also stated that India’s slow top-order batting could be one of the reasons for their exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup. He again added that while the other teams batted very aggressively, India were slightly defensive, scoring around 36 runs in six overs and 60 in 10 as well. And, Aakash Chopra expects Rohit Sharma to remain as India’s skipper for the 2024 T20 World Cup as well.
“After that, the ODI World Cup happened, where we saw Rohit batting destructively and Virat Kohli became the Player of the Tournament. So Rohit is there as the captain and I feel he will captain in the World Cup also. It was a landmark selection because if he plays the World Cup, he will play as captain only,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “Don’t think that Hardik (Pandya) will become the captain when he comes. I can almost give you in writing that it won’t happen. It’s decided that Virat Kohli will also be playing the T20 World Cup.”
