India will be travelling to Australia later this year in December to play three-T20s, four Tests and three-match ODI series. Last time, the tourists registered a historic Test series win against the Aussies by a margin of 2-1.
Although this time, the circumstances will be a little different, as unlike 2018, both Steve Smith and David Warner will be playing for Australia.
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra recently picked a 30-member Indian squad for the tour on his YouTube channel.
The cricketer-turned commentator listed 24 all-formats players and six ODI specialists.
Chopra picked four openers for openers in his team; KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and Rohit Sharma. He emphasised that both Shaw and Mayank can be sent back after the Test series.
“You can also consider Mayank Agarwal for all the three formats. You can continue with him if the Test series is good. It is necessary to keep Prithvi Shaw also in the team, the way he is playing. You can also keep him till the end although you could also send a couple of them back after the Test series,” asserted Chopra.
The former cricketer feels that Shreyas Iyer, predominantly a limited-over player for India, can be considered for the Test squad since the latter has performed remarkably well in the domestic circuit.
“So will be Shreyas Iyer, I am actually seeing him as an option for Tests as well. If there is any problem in the batting, then why not Shreyas Iyer. Why you won’t consider him for Test cricket when he has done well in first-class cricket,” he added.
For the wicket-keeping spot, Chopra chose both Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant for the Test while KL Rahul is a viable option in white-ball cricket.
“Saha for Test no doubt and Pant last time was extraordinary when India had gone there. He created a record for most catches and also smashed a century. In white-ball cricket, we will have KL Rahul as well as the wicketkeeping option.”
Chopra picked Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Navdeep Saini as the five pacers to lead the bowling front.
“Bumrah, Ishant, Umesh and Shami are the usual suspects. Navdeep Saini would be my fifth bowler. I would like to keep Bhuvi and Deepak Chahar with my team throughout. You can consider them with the red ball as well, don’t forget one Test match will be played with the pink ball as well,” he concluded.
Aakash Chopra’s 30-member squad:
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Shardul Thakur, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar.
