ICC Champions Trophy 2025: India's weakest link exposed by ex-cricketer with game-changing advice
Published - 15 Feb 2025, 07:07 PM | Updated - 15 Feb 2025, 11:35 PM
Table of Contents
With the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 just around the corner, Aakash Chopra has sent a clear message to the India National Cricket Team with a bold statement. The cricket expert asked the Men in Blue to ‘trust your batting and chase down targets’ because of their weak bowling attack in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, starting on February 19.
The former Indian cricketer has urged the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team to prioritize their strengths, and that’s currently their batting, as Jasprit Bumrah's absence weakened their bowling attack comprising the young talents Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh.
Aakash Chopra says India must chase to win ICC Champions Trophy 2025
The Indian selectors picked five spin options, but they have only three pace specialists, including Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, and Arshdeep Singh, and they will be assisted by Hardik Pandya. Since India’s pace attack doesn’t look that dangerous, Chopra believes that India's true power lies in its deep batting lineup, and they should opt to chase whenever they win the toss.
Read Also: ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Mohammad Rizwan unhappy with Faheem Ashraf’s selection
With all of India’s matches set to take place in Dubai, the commentator feels India must embrace an aggressive chasing strategy if they want to lift the ICC Champions Trophy. Well, all eyes will now be on Rohit Sharma’s approach as he is set to lead India for the last time in the ICC events.
Pressure to win matches should be on Indian batters: Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel, “I am with you 100%. It's the rule in white-ball cricket that whatever is your strength should be the second thing you should do. If your bowling is good, do that later. If your batting is good, do that later, and this team's batting is good.”
The cricket pundit continued, “We are saying that we have a lot of variation in bowling and have five spinners as well. However, if we are being honest, we have an issue in bowling. Our strength is our batting. We are playing batting till No. 8. The pressure to win matches should be on the batters. So definitely India should bat second.”
Aakash Chopra suggests India should chase in almost every match at the ICC Champions Trophy
The pitches in Dubai are unlikely to deteriorate much in the second innings, and chasing the target could provide a significant advantage to India, with dew often playing a role later in the game. Hence, Chopra feels the Indian batters must take the responsibility of chasing down targets under pressure to boost their chances in the prestigious tournament.
Chopra signed off by saying, “If you win the toss, decide to bowl, and you ideally do that as well because dew also comes later at times. If there is any danger of dew, that is always in the second innings. So, you should have the bat and not the ball in your hand at that time. Whichever way we might see, the answer to that question is India should chase in almost every match. I don't think there will be a pitch in Dubai where you will need to bat first.”
