Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has shared his wishlist about Team India prior to the T20 World Cup warm-up game against England. He wants KL Rahul batting at the top of the order alongside Rohit Sharma.
The 15-member Indian squad has plenty of openers – Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan as well as Virat Kohli, who had also expressed his wish to open after the last match of India’s home series against England as well. While reflecting on India’s opening order, in a video on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra stated that Rahul is in better touch than both Sharma and Kohli.
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He elaborated: “The first thing is the batting order, who is going to open? Last time when they played, Rohit and Kohli had opened, and both had hit a lot and the talk started to make them open because Rahul was not making runs at that time. But now Rahul is firing. He is not walking; he is running and running better than Rohit and Virat.”
While choosing Sharma and Rahul as his two openers, Aakash Chopra said: “So, please get Rohit and Rahul to open. Virat Kohli at No.3, I want to see how Surya is batting. I want the carefree and fearless approach from Rahul. I want the big innings from Rohit because he is only showing the trailer, we haven’t seen the picture for a long time in white-ball cricket.”
Notably, KL Rahul was in sublime form while playing for Punjab Kings in this year’s IPL. On the other hand, Rohit didn’t have a good season. He also named Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya as finishers. Aakash Chopra also opened up on the question marks about Pandya’s bowling.
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He said: “Virat Kohli should continue playing the way he is playing. He anyways plays very well in the World Cup. I will keep Rishabh Pant at No.5, Hardik Pandya at No.6, and that’s my big question – Hardik Pandya’s bowling. If Hardik Pandya is bowling, we are all happy. You will have to change your batting order entirely if Hardik Pandya is not bowling. How will you do that, I am unable to understand.”
“Hardik Pandya at No.6 is only possible if you get him to bowl and he scores runs because he has not scored runs. If he is there at No.6 and Jaddu at No.7, you will have six bowling options and two rocket batsmen at No.6 and No.7,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
