IND vs NZ 2021: Aakash Chopra picks India’s playing XI for second Test, drops Ajinkya Rahane

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has picked the team’s final XI for the second Test match against New Zealand, which will be played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Chopra feels if justice is to be done then out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane should be dropped as full-time skipper Virat Kohli will get back into the team.

Chopra reckons that Shreyas Iyer should get a place in the team’s playing XI as he has made a dream start to his Test career. Iyer scored 105 runs in his debut Test innings and then followed it with another fine knock of 65 runs in the second dig. Thus, the Mumbai batter had scored the vital runs in each of the innings and had bailed the team out of the jail.

Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “Rahul Dravid was asked what about Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer. He said it is a little too early for him to decide. But the time has come now, you will have to find the answer. If you talk about justice, Ajinkya Rahane goes out and Virat Kohli comes in, and Shreyas Iyer plays if you want to go in with five batters, this is the way to go.”

Iyer deserves his chance in the second Test as he made a dream start to his Test career and became the first Indian player to score a century and a fifty in his debut match.

“The way India has batted, let’s be fair we were 51/5 in the second innings and we were 145/4 in the first innings as well, so we are not batting that well at all. So if you are not batting well, you should not drop the one person who is in form. In my opinion, you should play Shreyas Iyer.”

Chopra added that the home side should play with three spinners as they had done in the Kanpur Test.

“You should play all three spinners. There will definitely be some help for the fast bowlers on this pitch but then it is the Wankhede pitch, there will definitely be turn and bounce on this pitch, eventually, it will turn into a good turning surface.”

The renowned commentator reckons India should play Mohammed Siraj in place of Ishant Sharma. The veteran fast bowler had gone wicketless in the first Test match and his bowling did look toothless.

“In the two fast bowlers, you will have to play Mohammed Siraj instead of Ishant. Umesh Yadav will surely play. So this is the XI that can be seen.”

Aakash Chopra’s Indian playing XI: Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj