Aakash Chopra believes India must include both Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya in their 2024 T20 World Cup lineup.
Hardik sat out of the just-finished T20I matches with Afghanistan. He’s still healing from an ankle injury. He got hurt last year at the ODI World Cup game against Bangladesh.
Dube led all scorers on both teams in the Afghanistan series with 124 runs. Despite bowling at an economy rate of 10.00, the seam-bowling all-round player also claimed two wickets.
Chopra pleaded with India to include both Dube and Hardik in their T20 World Cup team in a video that he posted on his YouTube channel, explaining:
“Shivam Ati Sundaram – his power is talking loudly. I felt he was sent slightly early in the third match. You could have sent either Sanju Samson or Rinku Singh ahead of him because he is not a grafter, he is an attacker. He reminds me of Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh). So you need to keep him slightly down the order.”
“The way he hit sixes in the first two matches, the power was evident. Some people have even said to leave Hardik and pick Dube. I am saying keep both. Shivam Dube is a real contender based on these three matches. If he does well in the IPL, it will be the icing on the cake.”
Aakash Chopra
Power in the shortest format should never be undervalued, according to Chopra, especially because surfaces in the United States and the Caribbean are usually spinner-friendly and the West Indies have respectably large venues as well.
Aakash Chopra’s take on India’s unresolved wicketkeeping issue for the T20 World Cup
Regarding the wicketkeeper-batters, Aakash Chopra pointed out that against Afghanistan, Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson failed to take full use of their opportunities. He noted:
“We haven’t got an answer to the question that who would be our keeper. Jitesh Sharma was played the first two matches. After that, Sanju Samson was played a match. Jitesh batted well in the first match, didn’t open his account in the second, and Sanju didn’t open his account in the third.”
Aakash Chopra
Who would be India’s chosen wicketkeeper-batter at the World Cup? The reputable pundit is unsure. He thought to himself:
“If you ask me who would go, I would say I don’t know who would go. Jitesh hasn’t confirmed his spot, Sanju wasted the one chance he got, Ishan Kishan hasn’t been able to be a part of the race thus far, and they didn’t pick KL Rahul.”
Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra says the Indian team seems unsure about their wicketkeeper choice. He noted a large pool of potentials, but expressed uncertainty about the final decision.