"If you talk about justice, Ajinkya Rahane goes out and Virat Kohli comes in" - Aakash Chopra picks his Indian XI for the 2nd Test against NZ

Aakash Chopra feels Ajinkya Rahane should make way for Virat Kohli [P/C: BCCI]

Aakash Chopra has picked his preferred playing XI for Team India for the second Test against New Zealand to be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai from Friday.

The Indian team will have to necessarily make at least one change with Virat Kohli returning as skipper. With Shreyas Iyer slamming a ton and a half-century in the two innings at Kanpur, Ajinkya Rahane's place in the side is likely to be at stake.

While picking his playing XI in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra cast his vote for Kohli coming in place of Rahane. He elaborated:

"Rahul Dravid was asked what about Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer. He said it is a little too early for him to decide. But the time has come now, you will have to find the answer. If you talk about justice, Ajinkya Rahane goes out and Virat Kohli comes in, and Shreyas Iyer plays if you want to go in with five batters, this is the way to go."

The former India cricketer believes in-form Shreyas Iyer can't be left out considering the state of the Indian batting. Aakash Chopra explained:

"The way India has batted, let's be fair we were 51/5 in the second innings and we were 145/4 in the first innings as well, so we are not batting that well at all. So if you are not batting well, you should not drop the one person who is in form. In my opinion, you should play Shreyas Iyer."

Even a tail ender can get a 50 once in 15-20 innings. Enough is enough 🙏🏻 twitter.com/CricCrazyJohns…

Iyer bailed India out of trouble in both innings of the Kanpur Test. In the process, he also became the first Indian to score a century and a half-century in his debut Test.

"You should play all three spinners" - Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra feels the Mumbai pitch will assist the Indian spinners

Aakash Chopra wants Team India to persist with the three-pronged spin attack of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. He reasoned:

"You should play all three spinners. There will definitely be some help for the fast bowlers on this pitch but then it is the Wankhede pitch, there will definitely be turn and bounce on this pitch, eventually it will turn into a good turning surface."

The reputed commentator also wants Mohammed Siraj to replace Ishant Sharma in the seam-bowling department. Aakash Chopra said:

"In the two fast bowlers, you will have to play Mohammed Siraj instead of Ishant. Umesh Yadav will surely play. So this is the XI that can be seen."

Paras Mhambrey on Ishant: Ishant hasn't played much cricket and that does makes a difference so we re working on that. We will work on his rhythm as well and I am he will get better.

Aakash Chopra's Indian playing XI: Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj