IND vs WI: End Of Giving Opportunities To Sanju Samson - Aakash Chopra On Indian Combination For 3rd ODI

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra talked about the combination of Team India for the series decider against West Indies. He remarked that if visitors want to win the series they need to bring back Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, which means the end of giving opportunities to Sanju Samson or Suryakumar Yadav.

The series between India and West Indies stands at 1-1 and the stage is set for the decider. It was expected that visitors would complete a 3-0 win but thanks to their poor performance and experiments from them, they have put themselves in a situation like this even against the team, which hasn’t qualified for the ICC World Cup 2023.

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At the start of the series skipper Rohit Sharma mentioned that they want to try out a few things and get all the answers before the World Cup. But with the way things have panned out it’s fair to say that more questions have made their way.

In the first ODI, India while chasing a low total of 115 runs struggled to bat and lost 5 wickets while trying to achieve the target. In the second match, they rested Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and that worsened things for them as they faced a humiliation and lost the game by 6 wickets.

It was the batting that yet again troubled them as they collapsed from 90/0 to 181 all out. Their batting order was something that raised quite a few eyebrows as they pushed Sanju Samson to 3, Axar Patel to 4, and Suryakumar Yadav to 6. The trio failed miserably as only Ishan Kishan (55) and Shubman Gill (34) found themselves in runs.

Aakash Chopra said that if Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are back for the third game, Sanju Samson along with Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel might end up losing their spots. But he pointed out that if they have experimented in the first two games then they should continue with the same approach in the second. Speaking on Jio Cinema, he elaborated:

“That’ll also mean the end of giving opportunities to someone like Sanju Samson or Suryakumar Yadav, one of the two will have to sit out. Axar Patel won’t get another opportunity. If you were to look at the series for experiments, why stop?

“If you’re going in with the philosophy that ‘I am going to try a lot of cricketers, I’m going to give chances to the players who haven’t gotten enough game time.’ Why change? You’ve done it in the first game, you’ve done it in the second game. Just give more opportunities to the players who haven’t gotten enough in the past.”

Also Read: IND vs WI: Aakash Chopra Criticises Team Management For Lack Of Clarity In Suryakumar Yadav’s Batting Position

IND vs WI: Cut down on the resources and maybe play an extra batter – Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra further highlighted how India have not utilized their bowlers in the series and suggested they drop one of them to give the opportunity to an extra batter. He added:

“India has a lot of bowling options. With regards to fast bowlers, they have four. They played as many as three in the previous game. You don’t need seven options to play in an ODI on a surface that’s bowler-friendly.

Umran Malik bowled just three overs in the first and second games, and Axar Patel bowled only two overs in the previous game. Where you’re not able to give enough overs to the bowlers you’re picking, cut down on the resources and maybe play an extra batter.”

India will be next seen in action when they will take on West Indies in the series decider on Tuesday (1st August).

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