"No.4 has become a revolving door" - Aakash Chopra questions India's tactics during the ODI series against Sri Lanka
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra was baffled by the number of changes India made to their batting line-up throughout the ODI series against Sri Lanka. He shed light on how in every game of the series, there was a different batter walking out to bat at No.4.
While the idea from new head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma seemed to be to have a left-hand right-hand combination, Chopra felt there was no need to push a batter of KL Rahul's caliber down the order at No.6 or No.7.
Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, here's what Aakash Chopra had to say about India's tactics:
"No.4 has become a revolving door as we had a different No.4 in every game. Why do you need to push someone like KL Rahul down to No.6-7? Why don't you fight from the front?"
On KL Rahul, Chopra added:
"India played KL Rahul for two games and then dropped him. It is interesting to think whether he is in their plans because from 2023 no one in the middle order has scored as many runs as him."
Chopra is unsure which direction the Indian team is heading with Rahul considering there are just three more ODIs to play before the Champions Trophy next year.
Aakash Chopra on Riyan Parag's ODI debut
Aakash Chopra felt Riyan Parag's impactful debut was a huge positive for the Indian team from the third ODI. The youngster bowled nine overs and picked up figures of 3/54. He also showed good intent with the bat for the brief period that he was out in the middle.
Chopra said in the same video:
"Riyan Parag was a positive as he picked up three wickets with the ball. He did well in the T20 series too and under Gautam Gambhir's tenure it seems like this is one player he wants to invest in."
While Chopra praised Parag for his performance, he couldn't understand the idea of dropping a pacer in Arshdeep Singh for the same. He questioned India's need to have a proper batting option as low as No.9 and weaken their bowling.