Aakash Chopra, a former cricket player who is now a commentator, believes that Rinku Singh may be the only left-hander in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 team, particularly with the return of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to the T20I team. There has been a lot of buzz around
India’s final T20I assignment before the T20 World Cup 2024, which is scheduled to take place in the USA and the West Indies from June 1 to June 29, is the current three-match series against Afghanistan at home.
In T20Is, the Men in Blue have recently experimented with a number of left-handers. In addition to Rinku, their top six players in the opening T20I against Afghanistan on Thursday, January 11, in Mohali included Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube.
When you select your top six batters, you will get at most one left-hander- Aakash Chopra
In a video posted to his YouTube channel, Chopra expressed his opinion that India’s top six in the T20 World Cup this year won’t have more than one left-hander.
“I feel left-handers won’t be there in the World Cup at all. When you select your top six batters, you will get at the most one left-hander. Only one, I am not kidding,” he said (5:15).
As he voted for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to bat first, the former opener for India also mentioned that Jitesh Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav are probably going to be in the playing eleven.
“If Rohit and Virat open, and Suryakumar Yadav comes at No. 3, you don’t have a keeper in the top three. If Jitesh is the keeper down the order, he is a right-hander. If Hardik Pandya comes at No. 4, he is a right-hander. Only one left-hander will come in the middle,” he reflected (6:15).
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit might be the opening pair for the Indian side, giving them a left-right combination at the top of the order. A left-handed middle-order batter might not be able to find a spot as a result of this change.
You might have one or two more left-handers in the squad – Aakash Chopra on southpaws apart from Rinku Singh
According to Aakash Chopra, there may only be one left-handed batsman in the top six, with Rinku Singh being the only other southpaw.
With 278 runs in 9 innings over 13 matches at an average of 69.50 and a strike rate of over 180.51, Rinku has had an outstanding start to his T20I career. Specifically, the southpaw’s ability to finish has made an impression on everyone.
“At this point in time, it seems like that left-hander will be Rinku. You might have one or two more left-handers in the squad. Despite the preparations we did for the last year or so to play left-handers, we won’t be able to create a place for those left-handers,” he said (6:35).
The former Indian opener went on to say that the only other left-hander in the top seven may be Ravindra Jadeja. He predicted:
“When it comes to left-handed batters, it will either be Ravindra Jadeja, or Rinku Singh in the middle, and that’s it, because Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Jitesh Sharma – five right-handers.”
While acknowledging that Sanju Samson or KL Rahul may replace Jitesh Sharma, Aakash Chopra emphasized that both players are right-handers. Regarding Rishabh Pant’s availability and fitness for keeping wickets at the World Cup, he wasn’t very hopeful.