“I am still going to stick with him” - Aakash Chopra opens up on potential changes in the Indian XI vs NZ

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has backed Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy to continue to be a part of the XI in the grand finale against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Speaking exclusively on his YouTube channel, Chopra stated that while batters can tend to fail on any given day, if any of the five bowlers have a bad day, it turns out to be a bad day for the Indian team. Furthermore, he reckoned that he would love to play both Varun and Kuldeep Yadav in the XI. 

"I get why you want to keep Abhishek. In batting, there are eight batters. Four out of the eight have a bad day in any case. Four need to score runs, and the team has reached the final without him scoring runs. A bowler's day cannot go badly," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

"If one of the five has a bad day, you are done. 20 percent of the bowling of that innings is allotted to you. A bowler has to always contribute 20 percent in terms of the number of balls. So there is a slightly bigger case for Varun, as you can bring in Kuldeep. An experienced left-arm wrist-spinner is available, but I won't do that. I am still going to stick with Varun Chakaravarthy. I am going to play both of them," he added.

Moreover, Chopra delved into the technical details of Varun Chakravarthy, detailing the reasons behind his dip in form in the recent few games. Notably, Varun is India's leading wicket-taker in the showpiece event with 13 wickets from eight innings. However, he displayed a dip in form in the last three games, conceding too many runs.

"In the last game, he bowled nine of 24 balls at over 100 kph, and one was at 111 kph. He operates in the early 90s and sometimes in the late 80s. He used to bowl the googly slightly slower, but he is bowling very fast currently," he observed.

"Something that he needs to worry and think about. The length has become slightly shorter, there is no doubt about that as well. The length used to be slightly fuller earlier. The balls used to hit the stumps, but they are not hitting now. So there is a cause for concern," Chopra concluded.

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