Shardul Thakur in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in Aakash Chopra’s predicted XI for New Zealand clash
Ahead of the crucial encounter between India and New Zealand, expert Aakash Chopra has picked his India playing XI for the game. This is a very important match for both teams, who come into the contest after losing their first game to Pakistan. Given that the teams play their remaining games against relatively easier opponents in Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia, this match is being seen as a virtual knockout. Here’s today match prediction ipl. Learn more how we predict any match.
Chopra predicted only one change in the India team and feels that Shardul Thakur will come in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Chopra said India also need to keep a keen eye on Varun Chakravarthy and if he is not bowling well in the nets, India can play Rahul Chahar or Ravichandran Ashwin instead.
“I want Shardul Thakur to play in place of Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar). You’ll have to think a bit about Varun Chakravarthy and how’s he bowling in the nets. If he’s doing well then play him because continuity is important. And if you feel that he isn’t bowling well or there’s some injury issue then it will be a toss-up between Rahul Chahar and Ashwin. The problem is if you play Chahar and Varun and also Shardul then your two out of five bowlers will be inexperienced. So there’s a case for Ashwin but the opposition doesn’t have many left-handers… it’s going to be a bit tricky. I expect Shardul to come in for Bhuvi and probably no other changes which are also alright,” Chopra said on the youtube channel.
Meanwhile, he also predicted New Zealand’s playing XI and said he expects the team to field the same side.
Aakash Chopra’s Indian XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah. Read more about our cricket tips free from experts.
Aakash Chopra’s New Zealand XI: Daryl Mitchell, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson (C), Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert (WK), James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi.
