"I still feel no" - Aakash Chopra on whether Bhuvneshwar Kumar should be picked for WTC final after his 5-wicket haul for SRH vs GT
Aakash Chopra feels Bhuvneshwar Kumar shouldn't be picked for the World Test Championship (WTC) final despite his five-wicket haul for the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their IPL 2023 clash against the Gujarat Titans (GT).
Bhuvneshwar registered figures of 5/30 as Shubman Gill's century helped the Titans set a 189-run target for SRH in Ahmedabad on Monday, May 15. The defending champions then restricted the visitors to 154/9 to register a 34-run win and book their spot in Qualifier 1.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra lauded Bhuvneshwar for his spell but opined that the swing bowler shouldn't be added to India's squad for the WTC final despite the injury concerns surrounding some of the other seamers, elaborating:
"Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up five wickets. He was swinging the ball very well and came later to pick up wickets at the death as well. The big question which came to yours and my mind was whether he should be considered for the WTC. The match will be at the Surrey Oval."
The former Indian opener added:
"First half of the English summer, you will need swing. Jasprit Bumrah is injured, Umesh Yadav is also injured, Shardul Thakur is looking 50-50 and Jaydev Unadkat's availability is also not yet confirmed. So can Bhuvneshwar Kumar be added in such a scenario? I still feel no but that's just my thought."
Bhuvneshwar did pick up a five-wicket haul in Monday's game but four of those wickets came with the old ball. The swing bowler hasn't played a Test since January 2018 and is unlikely to be considered for the title decider.
"Heinrich Klaasen is batting amazingly well" - Aakash Chopra lauds SRH middle-order batter's performances
![Heinrich Klaasen was SRH's lone warrior in the run chase. [P/C: iplt20.com]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/05/ace69-16842133129983-1920.jpg?w=500)
Aakash Chopra picked Heinrich Klaasen as the only bright spot in the SunRisers Hyderabad's batting, stating:
"Heinrich Klaasen is batting amazingly well. Among all overseas batters who are playing in this year's tournament, Heinrich Klaasen is playing spin best in the middle overs and towards the end in my opinion. He reads spin from the hand and plays with the spin. He is actually batting like an absolute beast."
The reputed commentator criticized the other SRH batters for not providing the required support to Klaasen, observing:
"He was doing good but couldn't understand what the other Hyderabadis were doing. You should have done something - 59/7, you were totally floored. You came so close despite playing so badly. If you had played a little properly, these runs could have been chased."
Barring Klaasen (64 off 44), none of the top eight SRH batters scored more than 10 runs. Although the South African wicketkeeper-batter strung together a 68-run eighth-wicket partnership with Bhuvneshwar (27 off 26), he couldn't take his team across the line.