'Seemed this wouldn't happen in Rohit's captaincy' - Aakash Chopra on Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja playing together

India’s first ODI against England in Nagpur saw an interesting development in team selection with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel playing together, something that was previously believed to be unlikely under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Former opener-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra pointed out that this decision has eliminated the belief that the two left-arm spinning all-rounders cannot feature in the same XI in the longer white-ball format.

India bundled out the visitors for 248 in Nagpur before comfortably chasing the target with four wickets and 68 balls remaining. Chopra admitted that he had not expected Jadeja to play, considering that he was named 15th in the Champions Trophy squad. 

"There was a question whether he would play or not. I felt he would not play because his name was 15th in the Champions Trophy squad. We got to know a philosophy that two left-arm spinners can play together. It seemed this wouldn't happen in Rohit's captaincy, but that's been put to bed now," Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.

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Both the left-arm spinners made important contributions: Aakash Chopra

Jadeja had a memorable outing, reaching a remarkable feat of 6000 runs and 600 wickets in international cricket. Chopra praised the achievement, mentioning that he is the first Indian spinner to reach this mark, with only Kapil Dev having achieved it as a fast bowler.

"Ravindra Jadeja has reached 6000 runs and 600 wickets in international cricket. First Indian spinner to reach that far. No one else has reached there. Kapil paaji reached there but he was a fast bowler. He (Jadeja) picked up three wickets in this match as well and they were big wickets," he added.

Jadeja was brilliant with the ball, finishing with figures of 3/26 in nine overs. He dismissed Joe Root for the 12th time in international cricket. Meanwhile, Axar contributed significantly with the bat after being promoted up the order to counter England's spin attack, scoring a crucial 52 off 47 at No. 5 and taking a wicket. 

"He has still got it if there is even slight help from the pitch. He bowled extremely well. In fact, if you do man-to-man marking, Jaddu was bowling better than Axar. So, Jaddu becomes your bowling all-rounder and Axar becomes your batting all-rounder. Axar was promoted in batting as a left-hander because Jacob Bethell and Adil Rashid were bowling. He did an excellent job there, and Jaddu did an excellent job in bowling. So both the left-arm spinners made important contributions for the Indian team, one with the bat and the other with the ball," Chopra concluded.