"Shardul is still 50-50; Deepak Chahar should have played"- Aakash Chopra
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra feels Team India could have played Deepak Chahar as their third pacer instead of Shardul Thakur. Both Chahar and Thakur are bowlers who can bat, but Chopra feels Chahar could have given that extra zip with the new ball.
Thakur had a pretty ordinary day with the ball, as he picked up just a wicket and also conceded 63 runs in his spell of nine overs. That also included a 25-run over to Tom Latham, which proved do be a defining moment in the game.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra also spoke about how lethargic Thakur looked in the field. He said:
"For me, Shardul is still 50-50. I think Deepak Chahar could have played as he has a slightly more wicket-taking ability and the batting that the two provide are more or less similar. He looked a bit slow to move the field as well, just my opinion."
Shardul Thakur has the worst economy rate by any Indian bowler in men's ODI history (min 10 innings bowled) - 6.4
#NZvIND
Chopra was impressed with speedster Umran Malik's ODI debut. Although Malik conceded 62 runs in his 10 overs, he also picked up a couple of wickets and rushed the Kiwi batters for pace.
Aakash Chopra is hopeful that the Indian team management will show faith in the youngster and give him the entire series to express himself. He added:
"Umran is a tearaway fast bowler. He has a tendency to be a touch expensive, but now that you have played him, please give him all three games. If you want to think of a change, think of replacing Thakur with Deepak Chahar or Arshdeep with someone else. When all the bowlers have been expensive, I will take the figures of 2/66 with the pace that he has. The accuracy and penetration will come with more game time."
Aakash Chopra on Washington Sundar's cameo
Team India's top-three had a good outing as each scored a half-century. However, Aakash Chopra believes the knock that gave the Indian innings real impetus was by all-rounder Washington Sundar.
Sundar scored 37 runs off just 16 balls and helped the Men in Blue cross the 300-run mark. On this, Chopra stated:
"Washington Sundar showed once again that if chances are given to him, he has what it takes to deliver. He is a handy bowler and can bat at No.7 or No. 8 as well. Although there were three half-centuries in the innings, the most impactful knock according to me was that of Sundar."
Squad for New Zealand ODIs: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC and WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik.