Aakash Chopra is someone who has never shied away from expressing his thoughts and opinions. He has been a big believer of KL Rahul the “Opener” in ODI cricket. There will be a void at the top of the order created by Rohit’s absence. Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, and Sanju Samson will be fighting out for an openers spot in the team. But former India international Aakash Chopra wants Team India to go with Rahul at the opener’s slot as he has the ability to hit a double hundred in ODIs.
“My heart says that KL Rahul should open because the sort of player he is, he scores hundreds and in my opinion, if he plays very well he can even score a double hundred in ODIs. You have got to make him open if you want to do justice to his abilities,” Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel. KL Rahul was really impressive in the recently Indian Premier League (IPL). With 670 runs to his credit, Rahul came out as the highest run-scorer of the tournament. He ticked all the boxes as batsman, but how successful was he as a captain in IPL 2020? Under Rahul’s leadership, KXIP lost six out of first seven games. Later, they bounced back with five wins on a row and then lost the last two matches in league phase, failing to make it to the playoffs. “This question does not have an easy answer because Rohit is not there. So, the question is who will be opening with Shikhar, who will be one of the openers in ODIs and T20Is. Do you see Mayank Agarwal opening, that is a big question, or will you see towards Sanju Samson or open with KL Rahul,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel. Aakash Chopra went on to predict India’s probable XI in limited over series vs Australia:
“So this is how the team will look like Mayank with Shikhar, Kohli at No.3, Iyer at No.4, Rahul at No.5, Hardik at No.6, Jaddu at No.7 and after that four bowlers Chahal, Bumrah, Shami and I will go with T Natarajan.” He said. The much-anticipated series between India and Australia will kick off from November 27 with a 3-match ODI series. The ODI series will be followed by 3 T20I fixtures before finally entering the Test leg which starts in Adelaide with a Day-Night Test from December 17.