IND vs SL: Aakash Chopra Believes India Can Score 400 in the 2nd ODI vs Sri Lanka
Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra feels Team India should target a 400-run score in the second ODI against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, January 12. His comments came as India posted a massive score of 373/7 which came on the back of Virat Kohli’s century in the first game in Guwahati on Tuesday, January 10. After that, their bowlers then restricted the visitors to 306/8 to register a comfortable 67-run win. While previewing the second ODI in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said:
“India hit a lot in Barsapara. Earlier we used to say that you can change the style of playing, what style can you change now? To be fair, 400 runs could have been scored. 400 can be scored here as well. If that is possible, why not go achieve that target? It has become a sort of rule in ODIs that it seems to be very easy to score a lot of runs. It doesn’t look like it will be a low-scoring match unless you are playing in Bangladesh, where the pitch is turning a lot.”
However, Team India were bundled out for 186 in the first ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur in December last year as well. They failed to chase a 272-run target in the second match also at the same venue, where they allowed the hosts to post a decent total after having reduced them to 69/6 at one stage as well. Aakash Chopra shared that the bat generally dominates the ball after the first few overs of an ODI match as well. He added:
“The batters have a field day if the conditions are not bowler friendly” – Aakash Chopra on IND vs SL 2nd ODI
“The batters have a field day if the conditions are not bowler friendly because there is no challenge at all. The new ball swings a little at the start but after that, only the bat swings. If you play out the first seven to ten overs, which India will also have to do, the sequence of hitting starts that doesn’t take the name of stopping.”
However, the veteran feels Rohit Sharma and Co. will post another huge total if they get to set a target in the second game as well. Notably, teams batting first have won the last six ODIs at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. India set a 253-run target for Australia in their last game at the same venue in September 2017 and eventually won the match by a decent margin of 50 runs as well.
“There will be similar expectations from this match. You want to bowl first after winning the toss, you generally don’t want to bat first, because there are greater chances of dew later. I won’t be surprised if you see another 350+ score if India get to bat first,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
