Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has picked India’s 17-member squad that will tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series in the month of July. The speculations have reached a new height considering the first team will be travelling to the UK for the ICC World Test Championship final followed by the five-match Test series against England.
Chopra echoed the sentiments of many former cricketers picking Shikhar Dhawan as the skipper of the touring side. The former cricketer believes Prithvi Shaw, who has been in swashbuckling form in the IPL and Vijay Hazare Trophy should partner Dhawan at the top.
“Shikhar Dhawan the captain because we have seen in the last two years that he is upgrading his software and batting with great responsibility. Along with him, I am picking Prithvi Shaw. The form we have seen from him, I feel he should be the front-runner in this race,” Aakash Chopra said in his YouTube channel.
Hardik Pandya should be the vice-captain – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra then picked Shreyas Iyer in the side and opined that Iyer should play if he is available. Aakash Chopra then slotted Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan at No.4 and No.5. The cricketer-turned-commentator picked the Pandya brothers and stated that Hardik Pandya should be the vice-captain of the Indian side.
Chopra then picked the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the side and added that Chahar and Kumar should bowl in the powerplay.
“Hardik Pandya will be my vice-captain. And then Krunal Pandya. He played the last ODI series against England and performed well also. After that Yuzi Chahal. Deepak Chahar whose performances have been outstanding with the white-ball.
He should be given a chance in ODIs as well. If Bhuvi and he bowl together, our powerplay problem of not taking wickets can also be sorted out,” said Chopra.
Going ahead, Aakash Chopra added Navdeep Saini and T Natarajan along with Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy as the two extra spinners. He also reserved a place for right arm pacer Prasidh Krishna as well while Sanju Samson and Deepak Hooda also found a place in Chopra’s probable squad to Sri Lanka.
Aakash Chopra’s Indian squad for India’s tour of Sri Lanka: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, T Natarajan, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy, Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Prasidh Krishna.
