India and New Zealand are set to face each other in a virtual quarter-final game in Dubai to stay in the tournament. Both teams lost to Pakistan making this game a must-win for each other. India have a lot more concerns than New Zealand heading into the contest. Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra has picked his playing Xi for both the teams for this crucial game.
Aakash Chopra first spoke about New Zealand’s playing Xi and pointed out the loopholes in the XI. He said that India needs to get Martin Guptill out early given that his record against India and especially in Asian conditions has not been that great.
Chopra has kept Daryl Mitchell, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson and Devon Conway as his top four batters with Glenn Phillips and Tim Seifert in his top six.
Coming down to the bowling attack, Aakash Chopra has gone ahead with the two premier fast bowlers of the team with Tim Southee and Trent Boult. He has kept Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi in the XI. It was these two spinners that wreaked havoc in the Indian batting lineup in the 2016 T20 World Cup game in Nagpur.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra stated that there are a number of key player battles that could decide the fate of the India-New Zealand encounter.
Aakash Chopra Preview India vs New Zealand Clash
“There are quite a few actually. Indian openers (Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul) will be up against Trent Boult. There is Tim Southee as well but more so with Boult. Then, there is Jasprit Bumrah against Kane Williamson and Mohammed Shami against Martin Guptill. There are a few question marks over Guptill’s availability due to his injury issues. But even if Guptill does not play, there is Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway.”
Coming down to picking the Indian playing XI, Chopra went ahead with Hardik Pandya in the playing XI despite him not bowling. Reports are that he resumed bowling in the nets at practice but whether he is match fit to bowl remains to be seen.
■■■■■■■■■■■□□□ LOADING@hardikpandya7 | #TeamIndia | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/hlwtrGDfNR
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 28, 2021
Also, Ishan Kishan is missing from his XI as is Ravichandran Ashwin after so much talk about considering both of them throughout the last week.
Aakash Chopra’s India XI
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami
Aakash Chopra’s NZ XI
Daryl Mitchell, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi
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