Former opening batsman turned commentator/YouTuber Aakash Chopra is of the opinion that Hardik Pandya will be preferred over Venkatesh Iyer the day the former regains full fitness and starts bowling for the national team. Venkatesh Iyer has done brilliantly in T20Is so far since he made his debut.
The talk around Hardik Pandya‘s fitness and bowling has been happening for quite some time. Former cricketers and fans have been divided about whether Hardik Pandya will walk into the playing XI of the team once he regains full fitness and starts bowling his full quota of overs for the Indian team. The fast-bowling all-rounder has been out of the Indian team since the T20 World Cup that was held last year in UAE due to fitness issues.
Hardik has been replaced by Venkatesh Iyer in the side and the latter has been performing well for Rohit Sharma‘s Indian team. However, former opening batsman turned cricket expert Aakash Chopra is of the opinion that Hardik Pandya will walk into the side the day he starts bowling his full quota of overs.
In a video shared by Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel, he said, “It may look like Venkatesh Iyer is ahead in the race, but I won’t be surprised if Hardik Pandya wins it. Ravindra Jadeja will be the spin all-rounder and Pandya will be the fast-bowling all-rounder”.
He further added and said, “Iyer is present for now but the day Hardik starts bowling, he will pip Venkatesh Iyer for the role. It is also worth remembering that it is not a bilateral series where you can take 18-20 players at once according to your convenience. This is an ICC event where you can select only a 15-member squad.”
Aakash Chopra feels Venkatesh Iyer will have an outside chance only if Hardik Pandya fails to regain full fitness.
“So, when you only have 15 places, you cannot take everything with you. So, you will only have two options for the all-rounder position and for me, they would be Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya. Venkatesh Iyer may have a chance if Pandya isn’t fit — that can also happen but hopefully, it doesn’t,” Aakash Chopra added.
