Former cricketer turned expert Aakash Chopra has picked his playing XI for the Indian cricket team for their opening clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2021. The high-voltage thriller will take place on October 24th at the Dubai International Stadium.
The Indian side is coming from handsome wins in the warm-up matches against England and Australia. The Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team dominated both their matches and gave clinical performances. Team India defeated England by 7 wickets in their 1st warm-up match and Australia by 8 wickets in the second warm-up match.
Meanwhile, with just three days to go for the blockbuster clash, Aakash Chopra has predicted his playing XI for the Indian cricket team on his official YouTube channel.
For the opening position, Aakash Chopra picked KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma to open the innings for India. They were followed by the Indian skipper Virat Kohli at number third position in Aakash Chopra’s playing XI. Suryakumar Yadav, who recently made a comeback to his form, was picked at number fourth position.
At number 5th, Aakash Chopra picked Indian keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, followed by the star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who is currently in a red-hot form.
Surprisingly Aakash Chopra left out Ravi Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in his playing XI and picked Shardul Thakur and Varun Chakravarthy.
“Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been expensive. He is not looking a patch of his usual self. He has a lot of experience but I am not 100% convinced that you can play him in the XI against Pakistan. I will be thinking about Shardul Thakur,” he said on his YouTube channel.
He also expressed the reason behind picking Varun Chakravarthy in the side for the game against Pakistan. He said:
“Rahul Chahar was very expensive. That means I see Varun Chakravarthy playing the next match and against Pakistan. Ravichandran Ashwin bowled well, bowled off-spin as well in the first couple of overs but will you see him playing as the third spinner if three play,”
He concluded his playing XI by picking Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah for the last two spots.
Aakash Chopra’s playing XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.
