Aakash Chopra has expressed his displeasure with India’s choice to keep Kuldeep Yadav out of the playing XI for their 2024 T20 World Cup victory against Ireland in New York on Wednesday, June 5. He encouraged the Indian thought tank to select the wristspinner in the XI for the following group game against Pakistan, which would be played at the same location four days later.
Despite Kuldeep’s absence, India bowled Ireland out for 96 after choosing to bowl first. The Men in Blue chased down the target with eight wickets and 46 deliveries remaining to win their first match.
In a YouTube video, Aakash Chopra expressed his dissatisfaction with India’s decision to remove Kuldeep and argued that the wrist-spinner should be played against Pakistan.
“They had to bowl first after winning the toss. There is no doubt about that. You didn’t play Kuldeep Yadav. When we were playing in January against Afghanistan, we had never thought Yashasvi (Jaiswal), Rinku (Singh) and Kuldeep (Yadav) wouldn’t be in the XI wherever you play. All three weren’t part of the XI.”
Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra added:
“Rinku was decided first, then Yashasvi, and after that, Kuldeep was decided here because you had to play three fast bowlers and needed a batter at No. 8. I personally don’t subscribe to this opinion. I feel you will do this in the next match as well and if you do that, you will regret a little because you will need the wrist spin of Kuldeep Yadav against Pakistan.”
Aakash Chopra
Chopra speculated that India could have to bench a fast bowler to accommodate Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI against Babar Azam and company.
“I have no idea how the pitch can be improved overnight” – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra agreed with Michael Vaughan’s assessment and questioned the extremely bowler-friendly New York pitch.
“You are not doing right if you are making pitches in a World Cup which are too lop-sided in favor of the bowlers. I have no idea how the pitch can be improved overnight. I don’t think this square can become proper so early because we saw Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada and Ottniel Baartman’s team first in the Sri Lanka-South Africa match.”
“Now we went to another pitch on the same square where the India vs Bangladesh game was played, it seemed like the pitch would be flat but that wasn’t the case. These are difficult pitches to bat.”
Aakash Chopra
Chopra finished by expressing his happiness at India’s victory against Ireland. He pointed out that it may be a banana skin game on a challenging surface.
