The Indian selectors did not include Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, both of whom are ODI specialists, in the T20I squad to take on England. They have, instead, reposed their faith in younger options in Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar. Speaking about their exclusion, Indian captain Virat Kohli said that the side was now looking at increasing the depth of their batting owing to which this call was made.
However, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra believes this step could be a double-edged sword and one, which could well backfire. He also said that once the Indian team had that depth, they have to be more expressive, much in the same way the England team have approached limited overs cricket.
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“The idea is if you have that much depth in batting you bat a certain way. You can’t bat conservatively if you have that kind of depth. That is what England did. They changed the template completely. They focused on batting deep as they wanted to score 400 (in ODIs) and they achieved it many times,” Chopra told PTI.
“It looks India is wanting to take the same aggressive approach in T20s and there is nothing wrong in that. Now, they need to start showing the intent of scoring 220 consistently. Batting till 8, 9 and 10 is still ambitious (as you don’t need them at all in a 20 over game) but if you are trying to score 220 it is fine,” Chopra further added.
{{/usCountry}}“It looks India is wanting to take the same aggressive approach in T20s and there is nothing wrong in that. Now, they need to start showing the intent of scoring 220 consistently. Batting till 8, 9 and 10 is still ambitious (as you don’t need them at all in a 20 over game) but if you are trying to score 220 it is fine,” Chopra further added.
{{/usCountry}}Chopra was quick to add that he sees Chahal making a comeback to the T20 side as he believes the leg spinner is an aggressive option for Virat Kohli.
“Chahal will be back. Rahul Chahar is more a bowler and Washington Sundar’s batting at number 8 may not be needed anyway,” Chopra added.