Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has backed Indian batters to bat aggressively in the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe. Chopra noted that India adopted a sedate approach against Ireland and England and thus suffered six losses on the bounce.
India is yet to register a single T20I win after the World Cup and they are yet to get off the mark under Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy. The Men in Blue were stunned 0-2 by Ireland and then suffered a 0-4 loss against England while playing away.
Meanwhile, India lost quick wickets on the UK tour and thus the middle order batters were forced to play with a conservative approach.
“RoKo (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli) are not there, but we are saying thoko. We create an atmosphere like that with the kind of team we pick and the kind of philosophy we talk about, although if we see the previous few games, there was a big question mark on that philosophy. There was nothing carefree. We became extremely conservative. We were a pale shadow of what we can be,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra highlighted that Indian batters need to play aggressive against Zimbabwean bowlers.
“You are selecting the team for a fearless approach. However, will you be able to play with that approach? This is the series in which we must assert ourselves. Domination and the opposing team’s decimation should be seen because we are better. However, are we actually better? For that, I want that approach,” he observed.
Chopra is expecting prodigy batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to follow Abhishek Sharma’s path of success. Sooryavanshi had returned with scores of 13, 14, and 15 against England and was dropped in the final game of the series.
“After the 2024 T20 World Cup, we unleashed a left-handed opening batter in Zimbabwe – Abhishek Sharma. He was probably playing at No. 3 at that time, and he went on to become the best T20I batter in the world. We are expecting something similar from Vaibhav Suryavanshi here,” he said.
The first T20I between India and Zimbabwe will be played at Harare on Thursday.
