On day one of the first innings of the fourth Test at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester, Aakash Chopra praised KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s opening partnership.
Following Ben Stokes’ decision to field first in cloudy circumstances on Wednesday, 23 July, England pacers would have been hopeful of making early inroads. However, Rahul and Yashasvi demonstrated remarkable resilience in blunting the new ball. India did not lose a single wicket during the opening session. The partnership scored 94 runs in 30 overs.
While Rahul was removed for 46, Jaiswal went on to score 58. Chopra stated that India batted out the first session without losing a wicket after being assigned to bat first on the first day of a Test match in England.
“It was a good starting alliance. KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal both delivered strong performances. That was nice because the weather was cloudy. The ball didn’t move very far, but it did move. You lost the toss and were asked to bat first, and you did not lose any wickets in the first session. This has happened after a long time in England,” Chopra stated in a YouTube video.
The cricketer-turned-commentator believes that following Rahul and Yashasvi’s heroics, former India captain and opener Rohit Sharma, who retired from Test cricket in May, isn’t missed.
“Yashasvi played quite cautiously. He was quite picky about which photographs to take. KL Rahul was unfortunate to miss his half-century, but it was an important opening partnership. Now you can definitely conclude that we haven’t missed Rohit Sharma as much since both Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul have done an excellent job,” he added.
Sai Sudharsan is a proper player: Aakash Chopra
Chopra also heaped praise on Sai Sudharsan, who played a gritty knock of 61 off 151 balls on Wednesday. The former India opener opined that Sudharsan should not have been dropped from the side after making his debut in the first Test.
“Sai Sudharsan is a proper player. You played him the first match and then you dropped him, and we started wondering why you did that. He had scored 30. He was not too bad. All of us believe that he is a special talent, and you had played him after breaking the line,” he said.
“If this had been his fourth Test match, he might have been seen batting in even better rhythm. He has played a very typical, classic Test match knock. He is a phenomenal player. Unfortunately, he got out on 61, but he played a proper Test match knock,” Chopra observed.
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