'Absolutely clueless': Aakash Chopra questions Indian cricket team's handling of the No. 4 spot
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra recently opined that the handling of the No. 4 conundrum in the Indian ODI team has left a lot to be desired. He also spoke abut the future of Shreyas Iyer, and stated that the latter will have to perform consistently in T20I cricket to retain his spot at No. 4 in the Indian ODI team.
Aakash Chopra made this observation considering the plethora of T20I matches that the Indian team might be playing in the near future, the performances in which might form the basis of ODI selections as well.
While sharing his thoughts on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra talked about how the No.4 conundrum started in the Indian team and the way forward to resolve the issue.
Aakash Chopra highlighted that four players have played more matches than Shreyas Iyer at No. 4 since July 2015, but none of them got to play even 20 matches at that position. These 5 players, including Shreyas Iyer, are among a list of 14 players who have been tested at the No.4 position.
"This is ridiculous. You played more than a dozen players at No.4 and none of them have played more than 16 matches at that position. I mean you have auditioned 14 players and not even given 20 innings to even one of them. We are talking about a period of 5 years here."
Aakash Chopra observed that because of these constant changes, India did not have a reliable No. 4 batsman at the 2019 World Cup.
"We have been consistently making changes and because of this only when the 2019 World Cup came, we were still searching for the No.4 batsman. You didn't take Rayudu, kept Vijay Shankar at the beginning, then you thought about KL Rahul and then you went to Rishabh Pant, you were absolutely clueless. It was a problem of our own making, we didn't do a good job."
The reputed commentator analysed the performances of the batsmen who had scored the most runs at No. 4 since July 2015 and questioned why they were not persisted with.
Aakash Chopra first brought up the case of Ambati Rayudu who was given opportunities a few months before the World Cup and dumped just before the prestigious tournament, although he had done quite well.
"Rayudu got the most matches, you gave him opportunity 5-6 months before the World Cup, he did well but just when you reached closer to the World Cup you lost faith. You didn't want to keep him and wanted to try someone else, but why go to someone else? There was nothing wrong, why they lost faith on him suddenly?"
Aakash Chopra then talked about Ajinkya Rahane, who is the second-highest run-scorer for India at No.4 since July 2015, but was dropped from the team even though he was performing well.
"Ajinkya Rahane is the second in terms of runs. Why was he not given opportunities then? You took him to South Africa, where he did well, everything was going fine but when you came back from there you didn't select him again. There was no mistake from his side, you didn't drop him down the order nor did you play him up the order, you simply dropped him from the ODI team."
Aakash Chopra warned that even though the team management has mentioned that Shreyas Iyer has sealed his spot at No. 4, it is not a certainty as a similar thing was said about Rayudu before the World Cup.
"Shreyas Iyer has averaged 56 in the 9 matches he has played till now. So you feel that everything is fine. Everyone in the team management is saying that he has cemented his place but that is exactly what we heard about Ambati Rayudu that he would be going to the World Cup, but the selectors and team management lost faith."
Aakash Chopra added that Yuvraj Singh might also feel wronged as he had performed creditably in 2017, but was also dumped unceremoniously.
"Yuvraj played 10 matches just in 2017, and if he feels a little hard done by, he has every right to because when you bat at an average of 44 and a strike rate of 97, have scored a century and a fifty, although he could have scored more fifties, the performance is not that bad."
Aakash Chopra also questioned why MS Dhoni was not sent up the order at the 2019 World Cup and was even made to bat as low as No.7.
"MS Dhoni also batted 10 times at No.4. He scored 332 runs but when the time comes to bat him at No.4, you don't play him there. We saw this at the World Cup as well, we should have sent him up but we didn't do that, you even sent him at No.7."
Aakash Chopra also brought up the case of Dinesh Karthik, whose performances were not bad either.
"Dinesh Karthik has also played 9 innings and averaged 52 in those knocks. The 264 runs may not be too much, because he remained not out quite a bit, so the average is good. I am not a 100% convinced if he will get another opportunity."
Aakash Chopra on the likelihood of Shreyas Iyer's T20I performances defining his place in India's ODI team
Aakash Chopra hoped that Shreyas Iyer is given consistent opportunities at No. 4 in ODI cricket, while expressing concern that the T20I performances of players might affect the selection of the Indian ODI team.
"You feel that Shreyas Iyer is doing good. If he is doing good, you will have to give him more time. I feel that the T20I performances might impact the ODI game. Because India will not play too many ODIs, we will play more T20Is because even if the T20 World Cup doesn't happen this year, it will happen next year."
Aakash Chopra added that the No. 4 position in T20Is is up for grabs, with Manish Pandey, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant the other contenders.
"If you give more importance to that, then whoever is performing at No.4 they may also get to play ODIs. Whether Shreyas Iyer remains at No.4 or not is up for debate. Because Manish Pandey is also doing good and if you need to play Shikhar Dhawan, you will have to think where you will play KL Rahul or if you should play Rishabh Pant."
Aakash Chopra iterated that although Shreyas Iyer has sealed his spot in ODIs at the moment, an exceptional performance by someone else in T20Is could change the narrative.
"In ODIs, Shreyas Iyer is confirmed at this point of time but if someone does exceptionally well in T20s, then at times you also consider them in ODIs. In Shreyas' case if he doesn't do well in T20s, it may go against him. Fingers crossed that he does well and we do not have too many changes in the next 1.5 to 2 years."
Aakash Chopra mentioned that even Zaheer Khan had opined that a batsman should be given at least 30 innings to make a case for himself.
"I was talking to Zaheer and he said that we should give at least 30 innings. Forget 30, no one got even 20 innings here. You give those many opportunities to an opener or No.3, the same should be done for No.4."