With Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, and KL Rahul in the mix, there is no doubt that the India cricket team’s batting is probably the best of all the teams that will play in the ICC Champions Trophy. Had Jasprit Bumrah been there, the bowling might have been equally strong. However, that won’t be the case.
Batting India’s strength
That probably makes Team India more of a batting-heavy team. Chasing has been the Men in Blue’s strong suit, and Aakash Chopra suggests that since Bumrah isn’t there, Rohit Sharma should opt to bat second in every match if he wins the toss.
“I am with you 100% (on chasing). It’s the rule in white-ball cricket that whatever is your strength should be the second thing you should do. If your bowling is good, do that later. If your batting is good, do that later, and this team’s batting is good,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Team India has gone with a spin-loaded squad. Five spinners have been taken, four of whom offer something different. But the fact remains that batting will be deep and better than the bowling, most probably.
“We are saying that we have a lot of variation in bowling and have five spinners as well. However, if we are being honest, we have an issue in bowling. Our strength is our batting. We are playing batting till No. 8. The pressure to win matches should be on the batters. So definitely India should bat second,” he added.
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Why Team India should chase at ICC Champions Trophy
One mustn’t forget that Dubai is a venue that favours teams batting second. In the T20 World Cup 2021, just one team won after batting first. Team India’s match will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, where ILT20 games were being played. Used grounds and pitches should mean that batting first will be tricky at the ICC Champions Trophy, as teams won’t know what a good, defendable total would be.
If you win the toss, decide to bowl, and you ideally do that as well because dew also comes later at times. If there is any danger of dew, that is always in the second innings. So you should have the bat and not the ball in your hand at that time. Whichever way we might see, the answer to that question is India should chase in almost every match. I don’t think there will be a pitch in Dubai where you will need to bat first,” Chopra concluded.
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