"Only one left-hander will come in the middle": Aakash Chopra on India's choices for T20 World Cup
Jan 13, 2024
New Delhi [India], January 13 : Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra said on Saturday that middle-order batter Rinku Singh could be the only left-hander in India's ICC T20 World Cup squad following the return of star batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to the T20I set-up.
Team India is currently playing Afghanistan in a three-match T20I series and is 1-0 up in the series. Virat and Rohit have returned to the T20I set-up after more than an year, following a crushing loss to England by 10 wickets in the semi-finals of ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
On his Youtube Channel, Aakash said, "I feel left-handers would not be there in the World Cup at all. When you select your top six batters, you will get at the most one left-hander. Only one, I am not kidding."
"If Rohit and Virat open, and Suryakumar Yadav comes at number three, you do not have a keeper in the top three. If Jitesh (Sharma) is the keeper down the order, he is a right-hander. If Hardik Pandya comes at number, he is a right-hander. Only one left-hander will come in the middle."
"At this point in time, it seems like that left-hander will be Rinku. You might have one or two more left-handers in the squad. Despite the preparations we did for the last year or so to play left-handers, we would not be able to create a place for those left-handers," Aakash said.
Rinku has had an impressive start to his T20I career, scoring 278 runs in nine innings across 13 matches at an average of 69.50 and a strike rate of over 180. He has one half-century and best score of 68*. With his finishing abilities and calm head, Rinku seems to be a sure starter in the T20 WC, which will start on June 1 in the West Indies and the USA.
Aakash said that maybe the all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja could be another left-hand batting choice.
"When it comes to left-handed batters, it will either be Ravindra Jadeja, or Rinku Singh in the middle, and that's it, because Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Jitesh Sharma - five right-handers," he said.
India will play Afghanistan in the second T20I on Sunday.
India squad for Afghanistan series: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav.
