The Only Problem Is Fitness: Aakash Chopra Highlights Star Allrounder's Major Issue As India Begin Preparations For T20 World Cup

Former India batter Aakash Chopra has expressed his concerns over one of India’s leading T20I allrounders ahead of the five-match series against Australia. Team India will begin their preparations for the next year’s T20 World Cup with a five-match series, starting on Thursday (November 23).

The series-opener is scheduled to be played in Vizag. Suryakumar Yadav will be leading a second-string Indian team as most of the first-choice players have been rested after participating in the recently-concluded ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. As Team India gear up for the series, Aakash Chopra has expressed his concerns over Washington Sundar’s injury woes.

Sundar and Axar Patel are the two spin-bowling all-rounders in the Indian squad while Ravi Bishnoi is the only frontline spinner. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra praised Sundar’s skills before saying that the highly-rated allrounder is extremely injury-prone.

“Washington Sundar, you are looking at all-rounders – left-handed batter, right-arm off-break, he bowls in the powerplay, and is an excellent utility player. He is coming after playing well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy,” said Aakash Chopra.

“However, the only problem is fitness. He comes with a ‘fragile’ sticker. He is so fragile that he gets injured anytime and then it becomes a problem. However, in my opinion, he adds a lot of value in T20 cricket because he can bat in different positions and bowl well,” he added.

In 40 T20Is so far, Sundar has taken 31 wickets while maintaining an economy rate of 7.17. What makes him an asset in the shortest format of the game is his ability to bowl at any stage of the game including the powerplay. He is also a handy batsman and has scored 107 runs, including a half-century, at an impressive strike-rate of 150.70 in 15 T20I innings.

Aakash Chopra unsure about Washington Sundar’s place in playing eleven:

While Washington Sundar is definitely regarded very highly, Aakash Chopra stated he is not sure about the allrounder’s place in the playing eleven. The former cricketer-turn-commentator said that it would be tough for the team-management to accommodate Sundar along with Shivam Dube, Bishnoi and Axar in the team.

“It will have to be firstly seen whether he gets a chance to play here, and if he gets it, how he fares, because a long list of allrounders has gotten prepared now. There is a list of spinners ready as well.”

“In that aspect, the first match is going to be very important, that what sort of selection the Indian team does, whom all they play. Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar – can they play all three of them and (Ravi) Bishnoi as well – that will be a big one,” said Aakash Chopra.

India squad:

Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar