“Shreyas will play at No. 4; there will be no place for Suryakumar” - Aakash Chopra picks India’s playing XI for IND vs AUS 2023 World Cup match

Aakash Chopra reckons that Shreyas Iyer will feature in the Indian playing XI ahead of Suryakumar Yadav for their opening 2023 World Cup match against Australia in Chennai on Sunday. Chopra also predicted that India will go in with three spinners, leaving out all-rounder Shardul Thakur.

India and Australia met in a three-match ODI series in India ahead of the World Cup. With Virat Kohli rested for the first two games, both Shreyas and Suryakumar featured in the playing XI. While Shreyas scored a hundred in the second ODI, Suryakumar hit fifties in the first two matches.

With a number of players unavailable for the third ODI of the series in Rajkot, Shreyas and Suryakumar were part of the playing XI for that game as well. Shreyas scored 48, while Suryakumar was dismissed for 8 as India lost the game by 66 runs.

While some experts reckon that Suryakumar should find a place in the playing XI for the match against Australia, given his X factor, Chopra backed Shreyas ahead of him.

He said on his YouTube channel, he [1:35]:

“Shreyas Iyer will play at No. 4; there will be no place for Suryakumar Yadav.”

Shreyas has scored 1801 runs in 47 ODIs at an average of 46.17. On the other hand, Suryakumar has 667 runs from 30 games at an average of 27.79.

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“I do not rate him as an excellent all-rounder in one-dayers” - Chopra on Ashwin

While Chopra backed three spinners to feature in India’s playing XI, he expressed some concern over the batting form of the all-rounders.

The former batter pointed out that Hardik Pandya has not played much cricket over the last month, adding that Ravichandran Ashwin cannot be considered a genuine all-rounder in ODIs.

“Hardik Pandya has not played cricket for a month, so we can only hope he does well. Otherwise, there can be an issue. Apart from Pandya, there is Jadeja. Ravichandran Ashwin, I do not rate him as an excellent all-rounder in one-dayers. He is a bowler, who can bat a bit. Numbers six, seven and eight could be a potential batting problem,” Chopra opined.

He also stated that if the pitch in Chennai does not offer a decent amount of turn, India will find it difficult to pick up wickets in the middle overs.

“There is a retro feel to the team - Ravindra Jadeja from one end, Ravichandran Ashwin from the other. Memories of 2017 are fresh again. Hopefully, the pitch offers turn, otherwise it will be difficult to take wickets in the middle overs for the finger spinners,” Chopra added.

Aakash Chopra’s predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.