Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has picked Team India’s predicted XI for the upcoming Asia Cup 2022. The Indian selectors named a 15-man squad for the multi-team tournament on Monday. Interestingly, there was no place for Dinesh Karthik in Chopra’s team.
The likes of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul returned to the squad and the cricketer-turned-commentator named both of them in his probable XI. Chopra wants Rohit Sharma to open the innings with KL Rahul.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “It seems it has been discussed that KL Rahul is going to be the opener and Virat Kohli is going to be at No. 3. Long-term perspective – no problem at all, this is what you want. But they have experimented so much in opening that we might see some more experiments. It is possible Rahul does not open and Virat Kohli opens.”
The renowned commentator picked Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav in the middle order.
“Suryakumar Yadav will be in the middle order. Rishabh Pant might go above Surya, that’s a possibility because we have seen repeatedly that a left-hander is required, every team has a leg-spinner, so you need Rishabh Pant in between.”
Former Delhi player added that Suryakumar Yadav will bat at number five while Hardik Pandya will take the number six slot in the batting order.
“That means Suryakumar at No. 5 or No. 6 because Hardik Pandya is also there, then why were you making him open for so long? Dinesh Karthik might not be able to get a place in the XI. Deepak Hooda’s selection shows that team needs a floater who can bat down the order and give you some bowling as well.”
Chopra added that the batting might be a bit fragile as Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will play after a long time and thus India should play Deepak Hooda to strengthen their batting.
“It is possible that when the first match happens against Pakistan, because KL Rahul is coming after playing no cricket and Virat Kohli is coming after a break, the team might feel the batting is slightly fragile and that they should keep Deepak Hooda as well.”
Chopra selected Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal as two spinners and wants Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI.
“They can go with four bowlers and you can get four overs from Hardik Pandya and Hooda. That could be the thought process, that you play Jaddu and Chahal and two fast bowlers – Arshdeep and Bhuvi because you might not want to play Avesh as of now.”
Aakash Chopra’s Indian XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh.
