Former cricketer Aakash Chopra has questioned India’s batting order shuffle during the first ODI against West Indies which took place on Thursday, July 27 at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown in Barbados. The middle and lower-middle order was sent up to bat, as India was chasing 115 runs. They won the match by five wickets, going one-up in the three-match series.
Skipper Rohit Sharma stayed back in the batting order. Wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan opened the innings with Shubman Gill. The left-hander grabbed the opportunity and slammed a fifty. Meanwhile, the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur were promoted in the batting order. Rohit Sharma walked in at No. 7, while Virat Kohli did not get an opportunity to bat.
Former cricketer Aakash Chopra was surprised by India’s batting order shuffle. In a video on his YouTube channel, he opined that Kishan’s fifty has not helped him seal a spot in the team, ahead of Sanju Samson and KL Rahul. He said,
“There was a big question in batting that whether Sanju Samson or Ishan Kishan will play. Ishan Kishan opening and scoring a fifty has not told me anything. I already knew that Ishan Kishan is a good player.”
“Ishan Kishan was slotted to bat at No. 4, from which you could understand that this team is looking at him as the second wicketkeeper who will bat in the middle order – makes a lot of sense. However, you got him to open, and he scored a fifty. He is going to do that. He has scored a double hundred in ODIs,” he added.
Suryakumar Yadav’s name continues to remain in the audition: Aakash Chopra
Team India batter Suryakumar Yadav had yet another disappointing outing in ODIs. He was looking good at the crease and got a start. However, he got out for 19 runs off 25 deliveries, with three boundaries and a six. Aakash Chopra expressed that the first ODI was an opportunity for Suryakumar Yadav to consolidate his position in the team. However, he failed to grab the opportunity. He said,
“Then came Suryakumar Yadav – that’s another question. This was an opportunity for him. I had kept Suryakumar Yadav in my World Cup team but for that, he will have to score runs.”
“He was sent to bat at No. 3 so that he goes and collects runs, and his name continues to remain in the audition. He was batting decently, but the way he got out – he first hit a sweep which went for a four, another sweep and got beaten, another sweep and a leg-before appeal, and then another sweep and got out leg-before. These were four consecutive balls and not four separate events,” he added.
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