New Delhi [India], February 26 : Hours before India take on Zimbabwe in a must-win match at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Chennai, the cricketer-turned commentator Aakash Chopra stressed that India should play their aggressive brand of cricket if they want to progress in the tournament.
The stage is set for a thrilling fixture at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday evening, with India needing a big win to improve their net run-rate.
Speaking on JioHotstar, Chopra shared his thoughts on the areas where Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav needs to improve and India's hopeful entry in the semis of the tournament.
On India's road to the semi-finals, he said, "The tricky problem for India is they need to win both of their remaining Super Eight matches, and they will also be hoping that South Africa win their games against West Indies and Zimbabwe. But if that does not happen, then the net run-rate comes into play."
"That is when India will need to bring out their explosive brand of cricket. Suryakumar Yadav is the man for that role. He needs to bat at three and bat with freedom. Against South Africa, I felt he was too slow. By the time he got out, the mountain was too high for others to climb," he said.
On India's current batting template, Chopra said, "India have batters at the top who go hammer and tongs from ball one and lose their wicket. That puts the team in tricky situations. Then the batters who come in after are too cautious and conservative. They start eating deliveries regardless of the pitch, conditions or the bowler. They play the situation completely and fall behind in the game."
"This is not the brand of cricket India have played in the last two years. They took pride in saying we hammer teams and score 250, 260 or 270. But Suryakumar Yadav and his men have perhaps forgotten that formula. The template now is to score just 180-190. That is good enough on some days, but good teams chase those totals easily. India need to bring back their aggressive brand of cricket. If they don't, their hopes of making the semi-finals could be in trouble," he concluded.
India need a big win against Zimbabwe to stay alive in the race for the semi-finals.