IND vs WI 2022: "Why are you tinkering with Suryakumar's confidence?" - Aakash Chopra baffled with Suryakumar Yadav opening in T20Is
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra is perplexed by Team India's persistence with Suryakumar Yadav at the top of the order in the ongoing T20I series against West Indies.
The 31-year-old seemed to have nailed the No. 4 spot after scoring his maiden T20I hundred against England at Trent Bridge last month. In that series, Rishabh Pant played as the opener in the final two games.
However, the Men in Blue have just swapped their positions, which doesn't make any sense according to Chopra.
Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel on Tuesday, the 44-year-old explained why chopping and changing positions could affect Yadav's confidence:
"When you have openers like Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson, then why are you tinkering with Suryakumar's confidence? Now, Suryakumar Yadav won't play against Zimbabwe. He will play in the Asia Cup where he might not open."
Chopra continued:
"Now, whether Pant is an opener or in the middle-order is not certain, while Suryakumar, who was certainly a middle-order batter, is now made to open."
Rohit Sharma made a statement at the toss ahead of the second T20I that Team India wanted their batters to be ready to play at any position in T20Is. But Chopra wondered why a middle-order batter has constantly been asked to open and not the other way around. He added:
"What are we doing with Suryakumar Yadav? There was a statement that 'We want to make sure every batter adapts to batting at every position.' It looks good to hear in theory, but you aren't sending any top order batter down to finish the innings. You are sending someone from the middle at the top."
Bhuvneshwar kumar said (in PC) : " Rohit sharma opening with Surya kumar was not some random thing, as much I know captain and coach had some deep thinking & conversation before taking this call. "
'Adamant' Team India will continue to open with Suryakumar Yadav: Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra feels the Indian team will continue to open with Suryakumar Yadav in the third T20I set to be played on Tuesday (August 2). The 44-year-old also opined on why the experience of Ravichandran Ashwin might have been preferred over the young Ravi Bishnoi. He stated:
"I feel the team is adamant and will continue to open with Suryakumar. Exactly the same XI might play, although I wanted Ravi Bishnoi to play ahead of Ashwin. But this is exactly what happens when you pick a senior player."
It will be interesting to see whether the Men in Blue pick a specialist opener like Ishan Kishan at the top or continue their experiment with Yadav. The right-hander has scored just 35 runs across the first two T20Is in the Caribbean.