India probably didn't have a team to win the 2019 World Cup, feels Aakash Chopra

India were one of the favourites to win the World Cup held in England last year. They also topped the points table in the league stage losing only one game out of nine. But all their hopes came down crashing in the semi-final against New Zealand. The Kiwis defended 240 runs despite Ravindra Jadeja‘s late heroics with the bat as India fell 18 runs short.

A lot has already been said about the team’s combination in the tournament, and former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has uniquely analysed it. He made a hypothetical man-to-man comparison of the 2019 WC team with the 2011 World Cup-winning team led by MS Dhoni. He also concluded that the Men in Blue probably didn’t have the team to win the mega event for the second time in eight years.

While comparing the team, he rated Yuvraj Singh as the biggest match-winner among all the middle-order batsmen India tried in the World Cup last year. The number four conundrum was a burning issue for the side going into the tournament, and according to many, it spoiled India’s chances to win the trophy.

“Yuvraj Singh is winning this race hands down against Dinesh Karthik/Kedar Jadhav/Pant/Pandya as a batsman, as a bowler, as a full package match-winner,” Aakash Chopra said.

Aakash Chopra reckons India’s middle-order was too brittle

The Indian team of 2011 World Cup had the likes of Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh as the middle-order batsmen. But in 2019, Vijay Shankar and Rishabh Pant were part of the crucial positions at four and five, and for the same reason, Aakash feels it was brittle and inexperienced.

“Should we get a slight perspective, if you have not won the World Cup in 2019, probably you didn’t have a World Cup-winning team only. Because the middle-order was so brittle, you didn’t have the team to win,” the 42-year-old added. Overall, after comparing both the teams, he pointed out that the team management made a few selection errors and also felt that the team wasn’t prepared for the injuries which happened to players during the WC.