Aakash Chopra spoke about the upcoming third ODI between West Indies and India which will be played on August 1 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad. The three-ODI series stands 1-1 after the hosts registered a fine win in the second match in Barbados on July 29.
The match saw West Indies captain Shai Hope winning the toss and choosing to bowl first as India decided to rest captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, with Hardik Pandya leading the team. Also, the Men in Blue brought in Sanju Samson and Akshar Patel in the XI.
Ishan Kishan with 55 and Shubman Gill with 34 gave a brilliant start to the Indian team by adding 90 runs for the first wicket. But after them, only Suryakumar Yadav (24) crossed the 20-run mark as India lost their last 9 wickets for just 91 runs to be bowled out for 181 in 36.4 overs.
Gudakesh Motie and Romario Shepherd picked three wickets each while the Windies pacers peppered the Indian batters with speedy bouncers.
In response, though Shardul Thakur picked 3 wickets to break some momentum, Shai Hope with 63* and Keacy Carty with 48* kept their cool as West Indies achieved the target before 40 overs with 6 wickets in hand.
Aakash Chopra Wants India To Go With The Same XI In Third ODI As Well
After the match, India coach Rahul Dravid talked about the ‘big picture’ when asked why Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were rested.
“With (only) months to go for the World Cup (begins October 5) or Asia Cup (begins August 30), we are kind of running out of time in a lot of ways, and we are hopeful that at least some of them will be fit for the Asia Cup and the World Cup. But we cannot take our chances as we have to try out other people, so that in a worst case scenario they have game-time behind them.
We will always look into the bigger picture and we cannot think about every single game and series. In a series like this, with only two-three matches to go before the World Cup and Asia Cup, playing Virat (Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma) would not have given us answers,” Dravid said in a presser.
Aakash Chopra responded to this quote by Dravid and asked whether India will go with the same XI in the third deciding ODI as well. He said Akshar Patel and Sanju Samson cannot be discarded after just one inning each and wanted Suryakumar Yadav to bat at no.6.
“If this is the approach, I’m expecting the same XI to play in the 3rd match too. Perhaps, with the same batting order. One innings for Sanju at 3 and Axar at 4 can’t be enough. SKY must bat at 6 too. Thoughts?,” he tweeted.
If this is the approach, I’m expecting the same XI to play in the 3rd match too. Perhaps, with the same batting order. One innings for Sanju at 3 and Axar at 4 can’t be enough. SKY must bat at 6 too. Thoughts? #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/n7Nmquy8qF
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) July 30, 2023