Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra believes that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli's five-bowler strategy is validated because of his excellent track record as captain in the longest format of the game.
Under Kohli’s captaincy, the Indian cricket team has so far won 37 of the 64 Test matches and the 32-year-old also has the best winning percentage among all Indian skippers, which validates his approach to play five bowlers in Test matches.
So far in the ongoing five-match Test series, Kohli continued with his five-bowler approach and Chopra said he has no issue with this ahead of the fourth Test against England from September 2 at The Oval.
Chopra said on his YouTube channel, “Captain Kohli has said that he will play five proper bowlers. He has got that mindset. I am okay to live with it because Kohli has won more than he has lost. He has already become India's most successful Test captain. We have got overseas victories in his captaincy which did not come earlier.”
The cricket analyst also said India will go with either Shardul Thakur or R Ashwin in the fourth Test as he doesn’t think Ishant Sharma will get the nod in the playing XI against England.
He further explained, “I don't see Ishant Sharma playing. If you are going to play four fast bowlers, Shardul will play and if you want to play an extra spinner, Ashwin will play. But the whole scenario will change if Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) is not available.”
On Team India’s batting ahead of the fourth Test, Chopra said: “It was quite bad for India at Leeds but I feel we have a lot of positives in batting. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma have always scored runs if you leave one match for Rahul. Cheteshwar Pujara's form is now back on track. 91 is a huge score and the manner in which he played, which is very very important, looked positive.”
He concluded, “Virat Kohli, he has got runs although the big runs are missing and this pitch is absolutely ideal for him. Ajinkya Rahane - it is ideal for him as well. Rishabh Pant is a question mark but he has scored runs on this ground. So, this might just be the lucky venue for him once again.”
