IND vs PAK: You Are Digging A Hole For Yourselves: Aakash Chopra Warns Team India Ahead Of Pakistan Clash

As Team India gear up to get their Asia Cup 2023 campaign underway this week, former batsman Aakash Chopra has expressed his concerns over the team selection. The former cricketer-turned-commentator has opined that Team India might have caused problems for themselves by not including Sanju Samson in the main squad.

India have named a strong 17-member squad for the continental championship. Both KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have been recalled to the ODI side after they recovered from the thigh and back injury respectively. KL Rahul, however, will still miss at least the first two games of the competition as he is carrying a niggle. And with Rahul not fully fit, Sanju Samson has been picked as a traveling reserve.

While the wicketkeeper-batsman has traveled to Sri Lanka with the rest of the team, he is not a part of the main squad. As a result, he will not be eligible to play in the tournament. And Aakash Chopra believes India have made a mistake in doing so.

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On the AakashVani show on JioCinema, Aakash Chopra said: “I don’t know what is the right answer to this. The right answer would have been that if KL Rahul is your middle-order batter, then you should have made Sanju Samson a part of the team.”

“You wouldn’t have had to change the other things but when you don’t do that, and have one keeper as a middle-order batter and the other as an opener, you are digging a hole for yourselves, and you will fall into it sometime or the other, and it is now time to fall into it,” he added.

Aakash Chopra on India’s team combination:

With KL Rahul missing both of India’s group games in the tournament, Aakash Chopra believes that the team management should give a chance to at least one of Tilak Varma or Suryakumar Yadav. Both the batsmen are in contention for a place in the middle-order. He said that the high-pressure game against Pakistan will be a good opportunity for the team management to test the batsmen.

“You have also picked Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav in the team. You have no idea about Shreyas Iyer’s form and you have no idea about the form in which KL Rahul will come. So you will want to give a chance to at least one of Tilak Varma or Suryakumar Yadav,” said Aakash Chopra.

“Tilak Varma has not played a single ODI thus far. Suryakumar Yadav has played a few ODIs but hasn’t done anything in them. If you see from that perspective, this is your chance. Pakistan is a high-octane game, you will want to win, but whatever you have to try, you have to do it here,” he added.

India will open their campaign in Asia Cup 2023 on Saturday (September 2) with a mouthwatering clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Pallekele.