Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned the Indian team’s balance after Day 2 of the fourth Test against England as well. He added that India were forced to play an all-rounder at No. 6 as they did not have backup middle-order batters as well. Notably, England bowled India out for 358 in their first innings in Manchester on Thursday, July 24.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, and Ravindra Jadeja scored a few runs. However, if three all-rounders play from No. 6 to No. 8, you expect a lot of runs with the bat, but you don’t have that assurance. I am surprised that this 18-member squad, and Anshul Kamboj has been added to it, doesn’t have a middle-order batter. You haven’t picked anyone. You have picked all top-order batters. When Karun Nair was played at No. 6, we said that we had batted him out of position, or else he too is a No. 3 batter. Who will play down the order if everyone plays at No. 3?”

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“Suddenly, Nitish Kumar Reddy got injured, and you didn’t have a batter left with you. You said you would play Shardul in his place and make Jaddu bat at No. 6 since he was batting well, but Jaddu was expected to fail at some stage. He had scored four consecutive fifties. So he was due a failure. I felt India were a batter short,” he shared.

However, Aakash Chopra also applauded Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer for making the most of favourable bowling conditions as well.

“The ball moved a little more on the second day, and they (England) may have bowled a lot better. Ben Stokes needs to be praised once again here. He picked up a five-wicket haul. He bowled 24 overs. Jofra Archer, who bowled 26.1 overs, was the only bowler to bowl more overs than him, and he also picked up three wickets,” he said.

“He (Stokes) has put in his heart and soul. So he is praiseworthy on that count. He has been absolutely outstanding this series. The bat still hasn’t talked that much, but with the ball, he is just putting in the effort over after over. He has already bowled the most number of overs in a Test series in his career, with a Test and an innings to go,” Aakash Chopra concluded.