T20 World Cup 2021: "Indian openers against Trent Boult" - Aakash Chopra on the key battles in the India-New Zealand encounter

Former India batter Aakash Chopra has picked the Indian openers versus New Zealand left-arm seamer Trent Boult as one of the key battles to watch out for in the T20 World Cup 2021 encounter in Dubai on Sunday.

India and New Zealand will meet in a crucial clash on Sunday. With Pakistan looking set to occupy the top spot in Group 2, courtesy of their three consecutive wins, the tussle for the second semi-final berth is likely to be between India and New Zealand. In that context, the match in Dubai assumes greater significance for both sides.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra stated that there are a number of key player battles that could decide the fate of the India-New Zealand encounter. He elaborated:

“There are quite a few actually. Indian openers (Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul) will be up against Trent Boult. There is Tim Southee as well but more so with Boult. Then, there is Jasprit Bumrah against Kane Williamson and Mohammed Shami against Martin Guptill. There are a few question marks over Guptill’s availability due to his injury issues. But even if Guptill does not play, there is Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway.”

In the build-up to the contest, Boult had stated that he would look to replicate Pakistan left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi’s success against India. Afridi had dismissed both Rohit and Rahul cheaply to set the foundation for Pakistan’s historic triumph over their arch-rivals earlier in the T20 World Cup 2021.

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“India are stuck a bit in the spin department” - Aakash Chopra

Shifting focus to the spinners, Chopra said it would be difficult to pick out player battles since India are in a quandary over their slow bowling options.

He explained:

“I also want to see how the spinners do. I think India are stuck a bit in the spin department. Ravindra Jadeja will be one of the spin options, he has to play. But, who will be the other spinner - Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Chahar or Ravichandran Ashwin? The most experienced among them is Ashwin. However, New Zealand do not have a lot of left-handers other than Conway and Jimmy Neesham towards the end. So India will be pondering whether they should go with experience so that they can get that bank of four overs.”

Both Varun Chakravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja were wicketless against Pakistan, conceding 33 and 28 runs respectively in their quota of four overs.