“Important for the team to play together and continuously” - Aakash Chopra disagrees with decision to rest seniors for ODIs against Australia

Former Indian batter Aakash Chopra has disagreed with the Indian selectors’ decision to rest senior players for the first two ODIs of the three-match home series against Australia. According to Chopra, with the World Cup coming up, it is important for team to play together on a constant basis.

Having clinched the Asia Cup, India will take on Australia in three ODIs from September 22 to 27. The Men in Blue will be without skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav for the first two matches. The four will return for the third ODI, which will be India’s last game before the World Cup.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra expressed his reservations on Team India’s thought process of resting their big names ahead of the ICC event.

“I feel it is important for the team to play together and continuously at that. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened due to injury issues to players like KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Jasprit Bumrah,” he said.

The 46-year-old further pointed out that the likes of Rohit and Kohli haven’t played a lot of cricket in recent times.

“In between, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli rested a lot. They did not play in entire August. In fact, after the IPL, they haven’t played a lot. They played the WTC final. In the two Test matches (in West Indies), there were 6-8 days of cricket and nothing after that. From June till end of September, they have not played a lot of cricket. If they had played together, it would have been good. That’s my personal opinion,” Chopra elaborated.

KL Rahul will lead in the Indian team in the first two ODIs against Australia, with Ravindra Jadeja being named as vice-captain.

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“A big opportunity for Shreyas Iyer” - Aakash Chopra on India’s one-day series against Australia

While analyzing India’s squad for the ODI series against Australia, Chopra stated that the first two matches will be big opportunity for a number of players, including Shreyas Iyer, keeping the World Cup in mind.

“The series against Australia is a significant opportunity for Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma as well, if he gets a chance. It’s also a big opportunity for Shreyas Iyer, who did not play the Asia Cup final. There is still time as teams can make changes to their World Cup squad till September 27. A lot will depend on the first two ODIs,” he said.

Shreyas made a comeback during the Asia Cup recently, but had to be replaced by KL Rahul ahead of the Super 4 match against Pakistan after suffering back spasms.