Aakash Chopra feels Team India will emerge triumphant in the fourth T20I against South Africa, which will be played in Rajkot on Friday, June 17.
The Men In Blue head into the penultimate game 2-1 down in the five-match series. However, they won the last game in Visakhapatnam and will hope to do an encore to keep the series alive. The Men In Blue recorded a 48-run win over the Proteas in Vishakapatnam on June 14 to remain alive in the five-match T20I series.
Aakash Chopra Predicts Shreyas Ier And Ruuraj Gaikwad Will Shine With The Bat In The 4th T20I
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra predicted that Rishabh Pant’s side will put it across the Proteas in Friday’s game.
He observed: “This time I am saying that India will win. Out of the three predictions till now, two have been wrong and one has been correct. Now I am saying India will win, let’s hope that happens.”
The cricketer-turned-commentator expects decent contributions from middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and opener Ruturaj Gaikwad with the bat.
Aakash Chopra elaborated: “Iyer and Ruturaj will together score more than 60 runs. I actually feel Iyer alone will make 60 runs in this match but I have put both names, just to be on the safer side. Rutu has got the form now. Shreyas Iyer, the way he is playing, should make 40-50 runs at least.”
Shreyas Iyer has aggregated 90 runs in the three T20Is thus far, with a top score of 40. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who did not have a great time in the first two T20I games, showed his prowess in the third T20I by playing an enterprising 57-run knock. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who had scored a mere 63 runs in the previous five T20Is, was under a bit of pressure. However, his first international half-century showed why he’s such a gun player in the shortest format.
Aakash Chopra Feels Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal And Tabraiz Shamsi Will Be Amongst The Wicket Takers In Rajkot
Aakash Chopra feels spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Tabraiz Shamsi will be among the wickets in Rajkot.
He reasoned: “I feel Chahal and Shamsi will take 2 or more wickets. The ground is very big here. Although the pitch will be absolutely flat in Rajkot and it will be a high-scoring game, the expectation is that there will be some help for the spinners because the boundaries are long.”
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was looking completely out of sorts since the playoff stage of the IPL 2022 and had conceded 75 runs in six overs in the first two games of this series, as the Proteas attacked him at will.
However, at Visakhapatnam he came back in style, causing the downfall of Dwayne Pretorious, Rassie van der Dussen, and Heinrich Klaasen. Tabraiz Shamsi had a magnificent run in T20Is in 2021. The chinaman spinner picked up 36 wickets in 22 matches at an economy rate of 5.72.
The 44-year-old commentator reckons quite a few maximums will be struck in the fourth T20I.
Aakash Chopra predicted: “You won’t get sixes by hitting the ball softly, it’s not Feroz Shah Kotla, but I feel more than 12 sixes will still be hit. A good pitch for batting means a high-scoring game, which means at least 12 sixes should be hit.”
A total of 52 sixes have been hit in the three T20Is thus far. Team India is slightly ahead of the Proteas on that count, with their batters having struck 27 maximums.