Former India National Cricket Team opening batsman Aakash Chopra has picked probable India playing XI for the third Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
India have dominated in the four-match Test series against Australia and have taken a 2-0 lead to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The third Test of the series will be played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore from March 1 to 5.
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Speaking on JioCinema’s show ‘#AakashVani’, the cricketer-turned-commentator picked probable India playing XI for the Indore Test and stated that Shubman Gill could walk into the team, replacing KL Rahul.
“The probable eleven will be Rohit Sharma, Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami. For the eleventh member, it can be Shubman Gill, because we have to mention his brilliant form in test matches. He has also made runs against Bangladesh in those matches,” said Aakash Chopra.
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The 30-year-old opening batsman Rahul, who was recently sacked as vice-captain, has been struggling with his form for an extended period of time. He has failed miserably in the ongoing series against Australia.
In the first Test in Nagpur, he managed to score just 20 runs in the only innings India batted. In the second Test in Delhi, the batter once again failed and registered scores of 17 & 1.
The Time Has Come That KL Rahul Won’t Be Part Of The Team – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra further stated that Rahul being sacked as vice-captain of the Test team was a clear indication that he is no longer a first-choice player in the team.
“When the announcements came KL Rahul has been removed from the Test Vice Captain position, which is basically telling the world that since you are not the vice-captain, you can be dropped, so there might be a change in that part. Although Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma both have backed up Rahul’s talent, Rohit also found himself in that position where he was backed up by the team in 2012 or something, and now we know how well he has played since then,” Chopra added.
Aakash Chopra added that the time has finally come to drop KL Rahul from the team and include Shubman Gill at the top of the order.
“So, they want to invest that much in Rahul as well, but the time has come that Rahul won’t be part of the team and Shubman Gill will replace him, as I think, so I wish Shubman Gill well. It is a good time to score runs if we look at it from the Indian perspective,” said Chopra.
Aakash Chopra leaving out KL Rahul from the team while naming the probable playing XI of India came as a surprise to many. Notably, Chopra was recently involved in a Twitter tussle with Venkatesh Prasad and he defended Rahul when the former pacer Prasad took to the social media platform to openly criticise the opening batsman.
Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah
