Former Indian cricket team opener Aakash Chopra recently picked his Indian playing XI for the first T20I of the upcoming five-match series against the South African cricket team. Chopra made some interesting selections as he left Dinesh Karthik out of the playing XI.
Karthik was one of the best performers in the league stage of IPL 2022. He played a pivotal role in RCB’s success, scoring over 250 runs at a strike rate of more than 190. Most importantly, he helped the Bangalore-based franchise win multiple matches after coming out to bat in a difficult situation.
Looking at his stupendous performances as a finisher for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the selectors recalled Karthik to the Indian squad for the first time since 2019. It seems likely that he will be the wicket-keeper for the Indian team in the first T20I against the South African cricket team, but Aakash Chopra thinks otherwise.
He picked his XI on his official YouTube channel and said:
“What is the composition of the XI you are going to see? I feel you might see Ishan Kishan opening alongside KL Rahul. But there are a lot of keepers, so he might not open, you can open with Ruturaj Gaikwad and not Ishan Kishan, that’s a choice. I feel Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Hooda should definitely get a place in the XI.”
Since there are too many wicket-keeping options available in the squad, Aakash Chopra felt that not all of them may get a game against the South African cricket team. Fans should note that KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant might leave the series early because they are a part of the squad that will tour England for the fifth rescheduled Test.
Nevertheless, here’s a look at India’s playing XI as selected by Aakash Chopra:
India’s playing XI picked by Aakash Chopra
KL Rahul (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan
