WI vs IND 2022: Aakash Chopra, a former opener for India, doesn’t understand why Team India keeps putting Suryakumar Yadav at the top of the order in the T20I series against West Indies.
After getting his first T20I century against England at Trent Bridge last month, the 31-year-old seemed to have locked down the No. 4 spot. In the last two games of that series, Rishabh Pant was the opener for Team India.
But the Men in Blue have just switched places, which Chopra says doesn’t make any sense.
WI vs IND 2022: What did Aakash Chopra say about Suryakumar Yadav
In a video posted Tuesday on his YouTube channel, the 44-year-old explained why Yadav’s confidence could be hurt by being moved around:
“Why mess with Suryakumar’s confidence when you have openers like Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson? Suryakumar Yadav won’t play against Zimbabwe. He will play in the Asia Cup, but it is possible that he won’t open.”
https://youtu.be/zOB-ytzw4Ao
Chopra continued: “Right now, it’s not clear if Pant is an opener or in the middle order. Suryakumar, on the other hand, was always a middle-order batter, but he’s now made to open.”
Will India continue to open with Suryakumar Yadav?
At the toss for the second T20I, Rohit Sharma said that Team India wanted their batters to be ready to play in any position. But Chopra wondered why a batter in the middle order was always asked to open instead of the other way around. He added:
“Why are we keeping Suryakumar Yadav around to open? Rohit Sharma said, “We want to make sure that every batter can adapt to batting from every position. In theory, it sounds good, but you won’t send any of your best players down to finish the innings. Someone from the middle order is going to the top.”
Suryakumar Yadav opens the innings with Arshdeep Singh jersey. pic.twitter.com/oxA36o4YEd
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) August 1, 2022
Aakash Chopra thinks the Indian team will keep opening with Suryakumar Yadav in the third T20I on Tuesday (August 2). The 44-year-old also gave his thoughts on why Ravichandran Ashwin might have been chosen over Ravi Bishnoi, who was younger and less experienced. He told:
“I think the team is set on starting with Suryakumar and will keep doing so. The same XI could play, but I would have liked Ravi Bishnoi to play instead of Ashwin. But this is what happens when an older player is chosen.”
It will be interesting to see if the Blue Men go with a specialist opener like Ishan Kishan or keep trying out Yadav at the top. In the first two T20Is in the Caribbean, the right-hander has only scored 35 runs.
