Ready to have bitter taste in my mouth – Aakash Chopra picks England series win over WTC final

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has picked England series win over the World Test Championship triumph. The last time India won a Test series in England was back in 2007 when Rahul Dravid led the team to 1-0 series win.

Since then, India hasn’t been able to savour success in the English conditions.

India were beaten 4-1 in their previous tour of 2018 by England. In fact, it was a close series as India had fought vigilantly but the same didn’t reflect in the series margin.

On the other hand, India hasn’t won a major trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy and the World Test Championship will be a good chance for them to end that drought. Meanwhile, India won 12 out of their 17 matches in the WTC cycle and were the top team throughout the tournament.

In fact, India has been the number one team since the last five years in the Test format and the same is palpable in the rankings. India has also performed consistently in the overseas conditions and recently won the memorable series in Australia by 2-1.

“It is a very interesting question. On the face of it, you want to win the WTC final. It is a big ICC event and you want to lift the trophy. Since it is happening for the first time, you will want to win this match and become the best team in the world.

But I am ready to have the bitter taste in my mouth in the WTC final, no issues,” said Chopra while talking on his YouTube channel.

Chopra added that India won’t become a bad team if they lose one match of the WTC final.

“Our team is good, if you lose one match, the team does not become bad. It is the No.1 team, they were No.1 in the points table and No.1 for the last five years as well,” added Aakash Chopra.

“So if given a choice between this [WTC Final] and the England series, I will win the England series. It is a five-match series. It has been a long time, the last time we won was in 2007 under Dravid’s captaincy but have not been able to conquer that frontier since then,” said Chopra.

The WTC final starts from June 18 at Ageas Bowl, Southampton.