Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has picked an Indian T20 World Cup squad based purely on IPL 2022 performances. The renowned cricketer left out the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja.
Chopra pointed out that he has selected the team assuming the World Cup will be played tomorrow and not in October-November. He added that he has not considered the players’ reputations while picking the squad.
Sharing his view in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra picked KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan as his two openers. He said:
“The first name I am keeping is KL Rahul. He can play till 15-17 overs, he is a T20 gun batter and scored more than 600 runs this year. I have kept Ishan Kishan along with him. If you see his numbers, you will say it was not that bad a season for Ishan Kishan.”
Aakash Chopra went with Rahul Tripathi and Suryakumar Yadav to bat at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions in the batting order. The 44-year-old picked Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik to play the finishers’ role and also named the former as the skipper of the side.
“After that, my Player of the Tournament. I have made Hardik Pandya the captain of the team. He can play in the middle and be a finisher as well. After that, I have given a spot to Dinesh Karthik and he is my wicketkeeper as well. He has run at a strike rate of 180-190 and finished a lot of matches,” Chopra explained.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) all-rounder Krunal Pandya made it into Chopra’s playing XI ahead of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Krunal scalped 10 wickets at an excellent economy rate of 6.97 in IPL 2022, besides scoring 183 runs.
Aakash Chopra picked three pacers and one specialist spinner
Aakash Chopra picked Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh as the four frontline bowlers in his playing XI.
“After that, Yuzi Chahal has to be in my side. Then I have three fast bowlers and the fourth fast bowler is Hardik Pandya – Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh. I am seeing this as the XI.” Chopra concluded.
Aakash Chopra also picked Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah to complete his 16-member squad.
Aakash Chopra’s T20 World Cup squad based on IPL 2022 performances: KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Dinesh Karthik, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah
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