"Would it not have been ideal to know earlier that Virat and Rohit are going to open?" - Aakash Chopra questions India's 2024 T20 WC preparedness
Aakash Chopra has questioned India's preparedness for the 2024 T20 World Cup. He noted that it should have been known much earlier that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will open the batting for the Men in Blue.
India will face Ireland in their T20 World Cup opener in New York on Wednesday, June 5. Since Yashasvi Jaiswal wasn't given a chance in the warm-up game against Bangladesh, experts believe Kohli will partner Rohit at the top of the order.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra reflected on India's likely batting order and questioned whether it shouldn't have been decided earlier.
"There are chances of both openers being right-handed. They are your two most experienced players - Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. It seems like Rishabh Pant will be sent at No. 3, Suryakumar Yadav will be at No. 4, and then if Surya gets out, Hardik Pandya will come, and if Pant gets out, Shivam Dube will come," he said (1:30).
"It seems like the team composition will be like this. But I ask a different question. My question is - why are we coming to know about this now? Would it not have been ideal to know earlier that Virat and Rohit are going to open?" the former India opener added.
Rohit and Jaiswal were potentially earmarked as India's likely opening pair for the T20 World Cup before IPL 2024. However, the latter's slightly indifferent performances for the Rajasthan Royals (RR), coupled with Kohli's scintillating form at the top of the order for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), might have forced the think tank to alter their plans.
"We haven't changed much" - Aakash Chopra on India's 2024 T20 World Cup batting lineup being similar to the last edition
Aakash Chopra noted that India's likely batting lineup is similar to the last T20 World Cup.
"When the last World Cup ended, from then till now, to be honest, we are playing almost with the same XI or the batting personnel. Move them a little up and down, leave out KL Rahul and bring Shivam Dube in his place, it's exactly the same. So we haven't changed much," he observed (2:10).
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the few altered roles weren't even communicated to the players beforehand.
"The interesting thing is that the roles that have been changed as well, no one was told that their roles are going to be changed - 'We are changing but you will come to know about it in the World Cup'. Personally, not ideal at all. The main reason for that is that no senior played for one-and-a-half years after the World Cup ended," Chopra stated.
Chopra attributed the lack of role definition to senior players not playing T20Is for an extended period.
"If you don't play T20 cricket, you have never played together. You play for your respective franchises and come together in ODI cricket. The players are so senior that they know their roles well, they will do their job, but don't we think everyone's roles should be defined?" he said.
Chopra pointed out that Rishabh Pant was the only player whose availability was unknown. He concluded by saying that he strongly believes India are slightly behind in preparation as they are still figuring out their batting order.