Aakash Chopra seems quite concerned about India’s continuous struggle against left-arm pacers in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup. The former cricketer reckons the problem was exposed in the opening Super Eight game against Afghanistan. Coming to bat first in Barbados, India lost a few early wickets. Rohit Sharma, who opened the innings alongside Virat Kohli, fell victim to left-arm speedster Fazalhaq Farooqi in the third over.
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The Indian captain was baffled by a slower delivery and was caught by Rashid Khan. Farooqi, the leading wicket-taker in this T20 World Cup, added two more scalps to his tally by dismissing Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja later in the innings.
Despite the early collapse, India bounced back well on the back of a brave knock by Suryakumar Yadav. When the other batters struggled on the sluggish pitch, Surya made a mockery of the Afghan bowling unit, showcasing his vast array of shots. The middle-order batter smashed a blazing 53 featuring five boundaries and three maximums. Thanks to his power-packed batting, India posted 181 on the board and ultimately secured a convincing 47-run win in the crucial game.
After the match was wrapped up, Aakash Chopra dissected India’s batting performance against Afghanistan on his YouTube channel. The cricketer-turned-pundit said, “India batted first after winning the toss. We had discussed this as well and there is an advantage here if you bat first. Teams batting first are winning and India also showed that by doing it. However, they stumbled a little. It has been a problem. We are struggling a little against the left-arm pace."
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Referring to those early wickets, Aakash Chopra explained, “Rohit Sharma was trying but he got out. He hit the ball straight up in the air and got out. The bowler’s name was Fazalhaq Farooqi. Mohammad Nabi was bowling from the other end, and India were kept on a tight leash."Virat Kohli remained quiet for a long time. Then he hit a good six, reached 24, but then he also got out."
The ex-India opener heaped praise on Suryakumar Yadav as well for bringing India back to the contest. Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan, who picked three wickets, looked helpless in front of Surya, who took him down with some brilliant sweep shots. Aakash Chopra feels “no one plays Rashid better than Surya." “He doesn’t get out to him at all. He keeps playing sweeps and Rashid, for some strange reason, has no answer," Chopra added.
It was Suryakumar Yadav’s second half-century in this T20 World Cup. He earlier registered an unbeaten fifty against the USA in New York. Surya will look to continue his sublime form when India clashes against Bangladesh in the upcoming Super Eight match on June 22.
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