WTC Final | Aakash Chopra rates Indian players; gives Shami 7/10, Pujara 2/10
Shami was India's best pacer in the game
|Aakash Chopra has rated Indian players based on their performances in the WTC final and gave Shami the highest score while handing over Pujara the worst score. He also stated that Rohit Sharma did a decent job and warned people from underestimating his contribution, opening the innings.
India's poor run in the ICC knock-outs continued in the WTC final as New Zealand got the better of India to win the inaugural edition of the WTC. For India, their batting once again proved their weakness as there was a collapse in both innings. Meanwhile, Indian bowlers failed to get as much movement in the air as their New Zealand counterparts and their inability to fold out the tail also proved costly in the outcome of the game.Â
Indian cricket expert Aakash Chopra has rated the Indian players based on their displays against New Zealand in the WTC final. Chopra was pretty impressed with Rohit's display in the game and stated that he did well to see off the new ball.
"I will give Rohit 6/10. He got starts in both innings. I will say the glass is half full because Rohit saw off the new ball in both innings, the most difficult thing in SENA countries. He was opening for the first time in Test cricket in England, do not ever underestimate what Rohit Sharma has done. Shubman Gill helped Rohit Sharma in the first innings but got out early in the second innings. Just 4/10, I was thinking 3 or 3.5 but four because he took a good catch of Ross Taylor diving to his right," Chopra said on his Youtube channel, reported HT.
Notably, he gave Pujara the lowest marks and felt he should have done better. The former Indian Test opener gave five each to the trio of Kohli, Rahane and Pant.
"Cheteshwar Pujara, one he dropped a catch in the slips, not that it would have made a difference to the match. With his batting in both innings, you expect more runs from Cheteshwar. In this game, I am going 2/10. Virat Kohli 5/10 for the simple reason that the first innings was good but more was expected from him in the second innings. You will compare Kohli with Kane, and Kane did the job in both innings," he said.
"Ajinkya Rahane did score 49 runs in the first innings. He got out playing a bad shot. You can say that he was unfortunate in the second innings but he never looked comfortable. I have given him 5/10. Pant is also 5/10. He scored 41 runs in the 2nd innings but the most promising student is also going to get scolded. The way he got out, the careless and carefree debate will always be there. I was expecting more from Pant."
Talking about the Indian pacers, he gave Mohammed Shami the best marks, while he felt Ashwin and Ishant also did well.Â
"Ravichandran Ashwin 6/10. He did okay with the ball. He broke the opening partnership in the first innings, took two wickets in the second innings, the two wickets we got. He scored 21 runs in the 1st innings but played a bad shot in the 2nd innings. Shami gets 7/10. Shami bowled well, he was the one to bring you back in the match. He took four wickets and in a good fashion. Ishant Sharma gets 6/10. I expected more from him in the 2nd innings, I thought he was phenomenal in the first innings."
However, the popular Hindi commentator was left disappointed with Bumrah and Jadeja's performance and marked them accordingly.
"Bumrah is just 3/10. There was a catch dropped off his bowling in the 2nd innings but nothing like that happened in the first innings. Jasprit Bumrah going wicketless in a Test match, it doesn't happen very often but it happened in this match. Jadeja 3/10. You are batting at No.7. There was more expectation from your batting in both innings, more so in the 2nd innings. You took one wicket while bowling, there was more expectation of wickets as well in the second innings."
