Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra doesn’t see Ishan Kishan getting too many chances in the T20 World Cup.
Kishan is the backup wicket-keeping option for the Indian team and Rishabh Pant is expected to start in the playing XI. In fact, Ishan Kishan wasn’t in the best of forms in the IPL 2021 while playing for Mumbai Indians.
However, he scored a sensational knock of 84 runs off just 32 balls in the last league stage match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The pugnacious southpaw continued his rich form in the first warm-up match against England as he scored a blistering fifty.
However, Suryakumar Yadav is expected to bat at number four whereas India will back Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya at number five and six respectively.
Aakash Chopra said while talking on his YouTube Channel, “I am not seeing Ishan Kishan getting too many chances. He has the form, he is a very tempting choice but your team already has three openers. Virat Kohli also wants to open because he plays very well there, opens for his franchise also and did wonders when he opened for India last time. But he can’t open.”
Chopra added that he will back Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul to open the innings for the Indian team in the Super 12 stage.
“I will continue to stick with Rohit and Rahul. There are five encounters, you have Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan at the start – you need to win these three encounters, you are not going to make any changes.”
The former Delhi player went on to add that Kishan is unlikely to get his chances even when India will play against weaker teams like Scotland and Namibia.
“And then when you have the matches against Namibia and Scotland, when you have played them [Rohit and Rahul] against the good teams, you will have to give them an opportunity to fill their socks, coffin, and everything else.”
Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan is known to hit the ground running and he can turn the match with his blistering batting. However, there are fewer chances that he will get a game in the T20 World Cup unless there are injury woes and form issues with any other player.
“Ishan Kishan can still get a chance to bat down the order unless of course there is an injury or there is a serious loss of form. But that will not happen, I feel the Indian team will do well.”
