"Your fate is in your hands" - Aakash Chopra on India's chances of reaching WTC finals
Aakash Chopra has highlighted that India's fate in the race to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final is in their hands and that they need to win against Bangladesh to enhance their chances.
The inaugural WTC finalists will lock horns with the Tigers in a two-match series, with the first Test to be played in Chattogram from Wednesday, December 14. Their final series of the ongoing cycle will be a four-match rubber at home against current table-toppers Australia.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out that India will have an uphill task to qualify for the WTC final if they have an adverse result against Bangladesh, saying:
"It is a very simple thing. There are two matches, if India win both matches, they will remain in the race for the WTC final. If you stumble here, the road ahead will become very difficult. There are a lot of permutations and combinations left but your fate is in your hands."
Chopra added that Australia's final two series could go a long way in deciding the finalists. The former Indian opener elaborated:
"South Africa, who are currently No. 2, have to play against Australia. Then Australia have to play against us, those will be four Test matches at home. England's last Test against Pakistan is left. England have won two out of two, what will happen if they win the third as well?"
England are out of the race to qualify for the WTC final as they have only 44.44% points and have just one Test remaining against Pakistan. India, Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka are competing for the two available spots.
"Go with five proper bowlers" - Aakash Chopra
Chopra wants India to field five specialist bowlers in their playing XI, explaining:
"Go with five proper bowlers because you will have to call the shots on the Chattogram pitch. The better team, that has to win matches, which England showed by doing, has to play aggressively. There are two ways of playing aggressively."
Chopra added that KL Rahul and Co. should strengthen their bowling attack as they are unlikely to bat as aggressively as England. The renowned commentator observed:
"Either play like England and score seven runs per over, so that you have so many overs remaining that it works out even if your bowling is slightly weak. The other way is that you score runs at 3.25 to 3.5 runs per over and you should be happy if I score 280-300 runs in a day but I have enough bowling to dismiss a team twice in two-and-a-half days."
India have never lost a Test match against Bangladesh. They've won 9 out of the 11 played against them.
Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel are almost certain to feature in India's playing XI. Either Kuldeep Yadav or Shardul Thakur might play as the fifth bowler, depending on the pitch conditions.