Former Indian opening batter and commentator Aakash Chopra has expressed his disappointment over the existing Indian all-rounders in Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, and Suryansh Shedge in the shortest format of the game.
Speaking exclusively on his YouTube channel, Chopra has voiced his concerns over the improper usage of Sundar with the bat and the ball. Unfortunately, Axar Patel, Suryansh Shedge, and Shivam Dube conceded a total of 124 runs in eight overs combined in the final T20I vs England.
“We like all-rounders a lot, but do we have all-rounders?. We are playing with illusory all-rounders. It seems like that because we play Washington Sundar, but we don’t make him bat and bowl. Neither do we bowl him a lot of overs nor do we make him bat. He is not useful at the number he gets to bat. We neither bowl him with the new ball nor later. So we are unable to use Washington Sundar properly,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“The only all-rounder who is actually playing as an all-rounder is Axar Patel, and he is delivering, although in the last match he was also hit a lot. 63 runs were scored in his four overs, and 61 runs were hit in the four overs between Shivam Dube and Suryansh Shedge. So, the love we have for all-rounders, those all-rounders are not all-rounders at all. That’s the problem,” he added.
Additionally, Chopra also insisted that the Indian T20I team has only Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel as pure all-rounders at the moment. With T20 World Cup two years away from now, Chopra admitted that the selection committee is experimenting a lot.
“We have only one actual all-rounder. That is Hardik Pandya. The second is Axar Patel. Only those two are all-rounders. We are trying to make the others all-rounders. Trying is not wrong. The World Cup is after two years. So you will try your best, but the truth is that your all-rounders are not ready at all,” he said.
“There is talk about the Impact Player rule for sure, that we are unable to make anyone, but to be very honest, things won’t improve if we keep supporting mediocrity. Will they come prepared when they reach international cricket?” Chopra concluded.
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