As India is all set to play its 1000th ODI game, former India opener Aakash Chopra has picked India’s XI for the game.
India and West Indies will play a series of 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is. The ODI series will be played in Ahmedabad starting on February 6 and it will conclude on February 11. While the T20I series will be played at Eden Gardens from February 16 to 20.
Previewing the first ODI, Aakash Chopra weighed in the possibility of an ideal XI for India in the first match. Since the Indian camp was hit by the Covid crisis, there ain’t many choices to make among batters. Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been ruled out of the series as they were tested positive for Covid-19 so BCCI added Mayank Agarwal and Ishan Kishan as cover.
It will be the 1000th ODI game for India
Aakash Chopra thinks that the Karnataka opener should get a nod ahead of Ishan Kishan. Mayank previously played only 5 ODIs with no such noteworthy performances. In the middle order, there is not much to choose from as he picked all the available options which include a possible ODI debutant Deepak Hooda. Kohli and Pant are automatic choices while Suryakumar Yadav would get a chance in absence of Shreyas Iyer.
Moving to the all-rounder category, Aakash Chopra picked Washington Sundar who missed out the South Africa series as he was tested positive for Covid-19.
As far as pace attack is concerned, Chopra picks Mohammed Siraj to lead India pace attack while Deepak Chahar and Prasidh Krishna who made an impression in the final ODI against South Africa, would retain their spots. A noticeable omission from the pace attack is Shardul Thakur who made some handy contributions with the bat but couldn’t make much impression with the ball.
As far as picking a leading spinner is concerned, it’s a big headache. Chahal wasn’t much impressive in the series against South Africa and Kuldeep Yadav has come out from an injury. And another option would be to hand a debut to Ravi Bishnoi. However, Chopra thinks that Chahal should be persisted for one more game at least.
Aakash Chopra’s playing XI for the first game:
Rohit Sharma (C), Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
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