Nikhil Chopra, Wasim Jaffer pick openers and No. 3 choices for Asia Cup, T20 WC 2022

A lot of speculations are doing rounds at the moment by the cricket pundits and fans on the players, who will feature for the Indian team in T20 World Cup 2022. In a recent interaction, Nikhil Chopra and Wasim Jaffer picked their openers and No.3 batters for the T20 Asia Cup and T20 World Cup scheduled later this year.

Chopra reckoned that the Asia Cup will serve as the perfect platform for the players to be named in India’s T20 World Cup squad. He chose his first-choice opening picks in form of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. As a backup opening option, Chopra thinks it will be a choice between Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan but prefers the former due to his terrific strike rate in the T20s.

“Asia cup will be a platform for the players, who want to get a ticket to the T20 World Cup. I think KL Rahul will definitely be there at the opening slot, and I expect Rohit to come well. I will not pick Shubman Gill, as I already have Rahul. My backup option would be Prithvi Shaw or Shikhar Dhawan. Shaw gives me the comfort of a strike rate of 150, which will reduce the pressure off Rohit in powerplay overs so that he can bat long innings,” said Nikhil Chopra on Sky247.net presents ‘Not Just Cricket’ Show on CricTracker.

Chopra further thinks his no. three will be Virat Kohli, and urges him to take rest in June, and play in the T20 Asia Cup to maintain his momentum for the ICC event.

“The no. three will be Virat Kohli. I think he can take a rest in June to rejuvenate himself because Asia Cup is too close to the T20 World Cup,” Chopra added.

Rahul, Rohit, and Kohli are definite choices: Wasim Jaffer

Jaffer picked Rahul, Rohit, and Kohli as his choices and felt that they are the best choices, at this moment due to their track record and experience. He further reckoned that the likes of Sanju Samson, Prithvi Shaw, and Rahul Tripathi are surely the contenders for the top-order positions in the near future.

“If you want a straightforward choice, there is nothing better than these three batters. Rohit will of course be there as a captain, Rahul is in sublime form and Kohli. You have contenders, but you can’t replace the three players at the moment. The players like Sanju Samson, Prithvi Shaw, and Rahul Tripathi are few of the contenders,” Jaffer said.