IND vs WI: Aakash Chopra Feels Dot Balls In India's Innings Had An Impact On The Outcome Of 1st T20

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra questioned the Men in Blue batters’ approach in the first T20I of the five-match series against the West Indies. Chopra emphasised that the excessive number of dot balls in India’s innings had an impact on the outcome of the series opener.

The West Indies set a target of 150 runs for India at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad on August 3. The Hardik Pandya-led team appeared to be comfortably chasing down the target, but the momentum shifted towards the hosts after the dismissals of the Indian skipper and Sanju Samson.

Suryakumar Yadav Was Going At A Run-A-Ball – Aakash Chopra

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra highlighted that the visitors should have kept more wickets at the end, as it became difficult for new batters to play shots.

“Suryakumar Yadav, interestingly, was going at a run-a-ball, even though he hit two fours and a six as well. It means you played a lot of dot balls. India and the West Indies’ fours and sixes were almost identical but our dot balls were at least 10 or 12 more than them and that was the difference in the end.

Suryakumar Yadav scored a run-a-ball 21, despite smashing two fours and a six. The right-handed batter struggled to play an aggressive style of batting on a challenging surface.

Could Have Played The Powerplay Well – Aakash Chopra

The former Indian opener said that Indian openers could’ve played with an all-out approach in the powerplay to put pressure on opposition bowlers.

“Otherwise, you could have played the powerplay well and forgotten about the wickets for the end. If you score 55-60 in the powerplay, you rule the powerplay and then the game is very easy but that did not happen,” he reiterated.