IND vs WI 2022: "Rohit and SKY will together score more than 75 runs" - Aakash Chopra makes his predictions for the 1st T20I
Aakash Chopra expects handsome contributions with the bat from Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav in the first T20I between Team India and the West Indies.
The first game of the five-match series will be played at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba on Friday, July 29. Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya will be back in action for the Men in Blue after being rested for the preceding ODI series.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra predicted Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav to be amongst the runs, elaborating:
"Rohit and SKY will together score more than 75 runs. Rohit is now back, he didn't play the Test match in England but played the other matches, he missed the ODI series here. He is playing again now and as a captain."
The cricketer-turned-commentator said the following about Yadav:
"Suryakumar Yadav's three ODI matches were absolutely ordinary, he didn't score runs. He didn't score runs in the ODIs in England as well, but he scores runs in T20s."
Best strike rate in T20I Internationals:- (min 10 innings)
•Finn Allen - 178.49
•Suryakumar Yadav - 177.23
Chopra reckons Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer will strike a few lusty blows with the bat on Friday. He reasoned:
"Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer will together hit four or more sixes. This match is not in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, it is on another ground - The Brian Lara Stadium. I feel Hetmyer and Pooran will hit sixes there."
Hetmyer, who did not play in the ODI series, is back in the mix in the shortest format of the game. Pooran looked in decent ball-striking form in the three ODIs against the visitors and will hope to take it a notch higher in the T20Is.
"Bhuvi plus Kuldeep will pick up three or more wickets" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra expects Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav to be amongst the wickets, subject to the latter playing the game. He observed:
"Kuldeep Yadav is back, there is no Yuzi Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back. Then I am saying Bhuvi plus Kuldeep will pick up three or more wickets. But will Kuldeep play? Axar [Patel] and [Ravichandran] Ashwin are there."
Chopra concluded by predicting an Indian win in the first T20I, saying:
"I am saying the Indian team will win."
Team India whitewashed the Caribbean side in the recently concluded three-match ODI series. Although the Men in Blue have been further bolstered by the return of some of their first-team regulars, Pooran and Co. will likely run them close in the T20I series.