Former Indian batter Aakash Chopra feels Ravindra Jadeja’s batting form and Shivam Dube’s form are India’s main concerns before they play their opening match of the T20 World Cup. While Dube could only manage 14 runs off 16 balls in the warm-up match against Bangladesh at New York on Saturday, Jadeja scored an unbeaten 6-ball 4.
Dube was in fantastic form in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings but veered off the track in the last phase of the tournament. The left-hander scored 396 runs in 14 matches at an average of 36 and a strike rate of 162.29 in IPL 2024, with the help of three fifties.
On the other hand, Ravindra Jadeja scored 267 runs in 11 innings at an average of 44.50 and a strike rate of 142.78 in the lucrative tournament.
“One thing was slightly negative. We shouldn’t say negative but we expected a little better. Shivam Dube’s bat wasn’t striking the ball, which is not a good thing. Since Shivam Dube made two successive zeroes, the same Shivam Dube hasn’t been seen,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“You want him to be in form because the number at which he is going to bat, he won’t get the time to find form. In my opinion, there is a question mark whether Ravindra Jadeja can play the finisher’s role. So that could be a slight problem. My main concern will be Jadeja’s batting form and Shivam Dube’s form,” the former India opener added.
The renowned commentator was pleased with India’s bowling performance in the warm-up game against the Tigers.
“Arshdeep Singh with the new ball, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel – all of that is alright. The new ball is moving a lot. If it moves so much, anyone can have difficulties,” he said.
Chopra reckons with the ball swinging too much, hitting sixes in the V will be easier than hitting on both sides of the wicket.
“Arshdeep’s ball was moving a lot left and right. Batting wasn’t seen that easy. When two equal teams play in such matches, you might not have very high-scoring matches. You might still be able to hit straight sixes but it won’t be that easy to hit sixes on the sides,” Chopra stated.
India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5th.
