Former India opener Aakash Chopra has picked his 14-man India squad for the T20 World Cup scheduled to take place in Australia later this year. The cricketer-turned-commentator posted the video on his YouTube channel where he said that he selected this team some time ago but revealing it now. Chopra started the proceedings by naming Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul as openers.
Rohit is currently the second-highest run-scorer in T20 internationals with as many as 2773 runs to his name. He is the only player to score four centuries in the shorter format at international level.
Rohit is also the top 50+ hitter in T20Is having smashed 25 50+ scores in the format. Rahul, on the other hand, has played 42 T20I matches and accumulated 1461 runs with two hundreds and 11 half-centuries.
For the following position, Chopra, as expected, picked ‘run-machine’ Virat Kohli. The Indian skipper is the top run-getter in T20Is. In 82 games, he has amassed 2794 runs at an impressive average of 50.80 along with 24 fifties.
Chopra then went with Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant as his number four and five batsman. The Delhi-born cricket analyst also picked Pant as his wicket-keeper and dropped the option of selecting former India captain MS Dhoni. However, he said that If Dhoni is available, then he would go with the Ranchi-born genius.
For the all-rounders, Chopra picked star player Hardik Pandya, new-comer Shivam Dube and one of world’s most exceptional fielder at the moment Ravindra Jadeja. Known as ‘Jaddu’ amongst his fans. Jadeja has taken 21 catches in T20Is, which is fifth-most by an Indian fielder. He has also taken 39 wickets in his T20I career which is the sixth-highest tally by an Indian bowler.
Amongst seamers, Chopra went with Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Mohammad Shami. Bumrah is the highest Indian wicket-taker with as many as 59 wickets to his name in the T20Is. Veteran swing bowler Bhuvneshwar, on the other hand, has so far played 43 games and taken 41 scalps – fourth-most by an Indian bowler.
When it comes to specialist spinners, then Chopra picked the current two best options in the form of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Chahal is the second-highest wicket-taker for India in T20Is. He has bagged 55 wickets in 42 matches with 6/25 being his best. Similarly, Kuldeep is the third Indian spinner to take as many as 39 wickets in the shorter format.
Here is Aakash Chopra’s India squad for T20 World Cup:
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
