Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra feels players like Shreyas Iyer could prove to be India’s stumbling block in Asia Cup 2023 as well. The mega event will be played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from Wednesday, August 30. Shreyas, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna, who are part of India’s 17-member squad, are returning to ODI cricket after long injury layoffs.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “There are slight concerns in your batting at No. 4 and No. 5 because they have not played much cricket. It is not only No. 4 and No. 5, if you see Jasprit Bumrah, you will say that he too hasn’t played much cricket. As things stand now, we don’t know how Shreyas Iyer will play, it seems KL Rahul might not be available for the first match, Tilak Varma has never played ODI cricket to date, Suryakumar Yadav has played but hasn’t been able to understand ODI cricket properly thus far, and Jasprit Bumrah has played just two T20Is since he came back from injury.”
However, Aakash Chopra again shared that all Indian players might be ready by the time the World Cup starts. But he sees a lack of game time as a potential weakness for the Asia Cup as well. He also opined that the absence of a frontline off-spinner could prove to be India’s Achilles heel as well.
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“The second point is that there is no off-spinner. It will be a point of discussion because as soon as you see two or three left-handers in the opposition team, you will feel that you cannot play Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja together,” he expressed. “So they will look to play Shardul Thakur at No. 8, Kuldeep Yadav at No. 9, and then the two fast bowlers. Ideally you should be able to play all three fast bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammad Shami – but there is an obsession for a batter at No. 8.”
However, Aakash Chopra also said Hardik Pandya is one of the best all-rounders heading into the World Cup 2023. He wants the seamer to bowl more overs than what he has bowled so far in recent times.
He said: “Hardik Pandya – he has played eight ODIs if we talk about the last one year. He has scored 198 runs, including a half-century, and picked up nine wickets. So he takes nearly a wicket a game and has bowled 44 overs. So he hasn’t bowled even six overs per game, which is not a great thing. If you see from India’s viewpoint, you expect more bowling from him or you need more from him. So, he is given the new ball at times. He has played 215 balls, so he plays 25-30 balls per match. He is doing a job, which is not a bad thing at all. So his name should be there in the all-rounders’ list.”
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However, Hardik Pandya has claimed ten wickets in his last 11 ODIs. His best spell was 3-44 in the third ODI against Australia earlier this year,wherehebowled7overs.
“In the last one year, Chris Woakes has scored 71 runs and has taken a grand total of five wickets in six matches. He has bowled 50 overs, for sure. So he is bowling almost his entire quota but is not picking up wickets. So recent ODI form is not that great. Chris Woakes is there in this list but definitely not,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “The next name that comes to my mind is Mitchell Marsh. He is a big-match player. He has scored 274 runs in five matches; that is phenomenal.”His problem is that he has bowled only seven overs in five matches. So the question arises if his name should be there at all in the all-rounders’ list.”
