IND vs SL 2021: "What will you find out in one game?" - Aakash Chopra slams India's 'wholesale' changes for 3rd ODI

Aakash Chopra has expressed his displeasure with India's 'wholesale' team changes for the third ODI. The cricketer-turned-commentator said such a step for one game would have worked in a more settled team, while here it will only put undue pressure on youngsters who got dropped after just two games.

After winning the first two ODIs with their best XI, India made as many as six changes for the dead rubber. These included the entries of Sanju Samson, Rahul Chahar, Krishnappa Gowtham, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya along with the return of eight-ODI-old Navdeep Saini.

In an interaction on ESPNcricinfo, Aakash Chopra labeled the strategy 'baffling' and said:

"To be honest, it baffles me that India has made so many changes. Because if it were to be the main side, where there is Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, etc, you make those changes it's understandable. But when you are talking about young kids, who are just cutting their teeth into international cricket... Ishan Kishan just made his debut two matches ago, Prithvi Shaw has played as many as four One-Day games. There isn't a lot of cricket these guys have played and now you want to change them to try somebody else. What will you find out in one game? I don't know."

Aakash Chopra suggested that this being a short series, India should have given the first-choice players at least three chances.

"If you played somebody first up, if they haven't done something exceptionally wrong, if they are not injured, at least give them three games. It's not a five-game series where you want to make wholesale changes in the dead rubber," he added.

Say Hello 👋🏻 to our 5 ODI debutants #TeamIndia #SLvINDCongratulations boys 👏🏻👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/ouKYrtrW8G

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 23, 2021

India opted to bat first on Friday. From the debutants, only Samson got a chance to play in the first innings before rain stopped play. The Rajasthan Royals skipper struck a run-a-ball 46 before slicing a lofted drive to short extra-cover.

Aakash Chopra predicts an Indian whitewash

UPDATE: The rain takes a breather. 👍Play to resume at 18.30 (Local Time). Number of overs: 4⃣7⃣ per side. #TeamIndia #SLvIND Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/7LRDbx0DLM pic.twitter.com/sFiodKuEMd

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 23, 2021

Earlier in the day, Aakash Chopra had predicted an outright win for India in the series, saying it would be a 'whitewash' before Diwali.

"India to win once again. That means it is 3-0, a whitewash. You generally get whitewash done before Diwali and Diwali has some relation with Lanka as well," the former opener said on his YouTube channel.

At the time of writing, the game was hanging in the balance with India at 147-3 after 20 overs. Suryakumar Yadav (22 off 17) and Manish Pandey (10 off 15) were standing strong at the crease.