Indian bowlers had been in impressive form against recently concluded T20I series against West Indies, and then Sri Lanka, helping their side win 3-0 on both occasions. Aakash Chopra has picked his choices for the Indian bowling attack for the 2022 T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia.
India’s cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has picked India’s bowling attack for the 2022 T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia later this year, in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
Chopra left out Harshal Patel, the highest wicket-taker of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, reasoning, “I am not taking Harshal’s name because I don’t think he will work there. You might think this guy is totally against Harshal Patel. I am not against but those pitches are different, the ball is not going to grip. I am not seeing him bowl with Bumrah at the death.”
Chopra also feels Deepak Chahar has a slight edge over Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the moment, with Jasprit Bumrah as an automatic choice.
“Bumrah is confirmed amongst the fast bowlers. Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Deepak Chahar – Deepak Chahar is slightly ahead in my list because he bats as well. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is bowling better at the moment but eight months’ time is still left. So one out of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar,” he elaborated.
Further, Chopra wants the Indian selectors to pick at least one amongst Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj and Avesh Khan, explaining, “Keep one amongst Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj and Avesh Khan at least because you need pace, you need bounce and all three of them have that. I won’t be too surprised if you want to keep two out of these three.”
Chopra then named Mohammed Shami, T Natarajan and Khaleel Ahmed as the other pace bowling options, along with Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja as spinners to complete the attack.
“Mohammed Shami/T Natarajan/Khaleel – you want to take a left-armer along. That’s another thing, if you want to carry, left-armer is that X-factor. You will definitely look towards Mohammed Shami. He has not been kept in the team currently but he should be there.
“One spinner – Yuzi Chahal. You might say he should have been there in the last World Cup as well. I am saying that he should have been there but the ones doing the selection didn’t pick him. Yuzi Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja are your only two spinners – that’s it,” Chopra concluded.