SL vs IND | Cannot be a better opportunity to play KulCha than this series, insists Aakash Chopra
KulCha during the tour of South Africa
|Getty
Indian cricket expert Aakash Chopra has asserted that India won't get a better opportunity than the Sri Lanka white-ball series to field Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal together. He also added that India's poor run in the first 10 overs has also emerged as a major cause of concern these days.
India's spin bowing has returned with disastrous numbers ever since the end of the World Cup 2019. It has coincided with the decline of India's wrist-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal and the fact that they haven't played together since the ICC mega-event in the UK. With Ravindra Jadeja not part of the Indian side for the Sri Lanka series and Hardik Pandya back to bowling again, there are high chances of India fielding the duo on the 22 yards after a long hiatus.
India's vice-captain Bhuvneshnwar Kumar had also indicated that Kuldeep has been bowling well in the nets and can take wickets in the upcoming series. Chahal and Kuldeep were impressive even in the intra-squad game, where they took five wickets combined.
Ahead of the first ODI between India and Sri Lanka that takes place on Sunday in Colombo, former Test opener Aakash Chopra has stated that India will not get a better chance than this to field KulCha.
"I don't think there can be a better opportunity than this because why did you play Kulcha together, Jaddu and Ashwin were not taking wickets in the middle overs. Nowadays there is a new problem that you are not taking wickets in the first ten overs also," Chopra stated in his YouTube video, reported HT.
He added that if India doesn't take wickets in the powerplay and the middle-overs, things can take a disastrous turn in the death overs. The Indian cricket expert reminded the pair was slotted together for the precise reason of taking wickets in the middle-overs.
"If you don't take wickets in the first ten overs, don't take wickets in the middle overs and you only control, a lot of runs are conceded at the end. Because of that, you had started playing them in the middle so that they take wickets. They took 100 wickets in 25 matches and the economy was also good - 5.5 to 6," explained Chopra.
However, it won't be easy for KulCha to play together on the same side, given the duo of Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy has done well of late. Chahal had a poor IPL recently, while Kuldeep didn't even get to play one game for his franchise.
