T20 World Cup 2021: "India can't step onto the field with this 5-bowler combination anymore" - Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra has professed an overhaul of India's five-man bowling attack for the remaining T20 World Cup 2021 games. Virat Kohli's men lost to Pakistan by 10 wickets in Dubai on Sunday, with no Indian bowler picking up even a single wicket.

The former opener suggested two options to go about the change. He said India could look to bring Shardul Thakur as a sixth bowling option in place of out-of-form Hardik Pandya, but warned that it wouldn't be an "ideal" solution. He argued that Thakur isn't a like-for-like replacement for Pandya as a lower-order finisher.

In a video on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra explained:

"You can't step onto the field with this 5-bowler combination anymore. You'll now have two options. You can decide that you want a sixth bowler and replace Hardik with Shardul Thakur which is not a like-for-like replacement, let's be honest. Whether you like Hardik or not it doesn't matter. If he doesn't play it will mean Jadeja will have to play at No.6 and Shardul at No.7 which is not an ideal combination, trust me. I will not advocate this."

Aakash Chopra then asked India to stick with the five-bowler strategy and make changes within it. He pointed to the shortcomings in the recent performances of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami in addition to the contrasting cases of Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy which are pulling the team down.

Aakash Chopra asserted:

"I'll ask you to stick with five bowlers but it can't be these five together. It's because Bhuvneshwar Kumar is not looking the same bowler; Shami blows hot and cold in T20 cricket, you see his stats and there are good days and some ordinary days too; Ravindra Jadeja is maybe your four-overs bowler but he's not a wicket-taker. He's not a Rahul Chahar or Yuzi Chahal... he's a bowler who contains runs, can bat and is a gun fielder. Varun Chakravarthy has played only a few international games so let's give him some more time. But when you are playing five bowlers, each of those five should be this good that he never has a bad day. He's not allowed to have a bad day. So I feel you can't field these five bowlers..."

Hardik Pandya hasn't bowled for months now and he's unlikely to roll his arm over in India's remaining four Round 12 matches. Kumar, too, has struggled for pace since landing in the UAE. While both have been backed by the team management, India might be forced to look to Thakur or Axar Patel if the bowling lineup continues to scamper for aggression.

Check out the full list of T20 World Cup teams and squads here.

Indian players are progressively losing the art of playing spin: Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra also pointed to Indian batters' troubles against spin. He said while skipper Kohli displayed a masterclass of rotating the strike against spin at one end in Dubai, the other batters looked at sea. The former cricketer remarked that the match was a "reality check" in terms of the diminishing art of playing spin in India.

Aakash Chopra concluded:

"We have stopped reading the ball off the hands. We are progressively losing the ability to rotate the strike against spinners. Kohli was displaying a masterclass at one end but the other batter was either defending or going for the big shots. Taking singles is an art and a mastery which is now lacking in Indian cricket. All our batters play really well but against spin, they are not just the same players. This was a reality check."

India will next clash with New Zealand in their second Super 12 fixture at the same T20 World Cup venue on Sunday.