“India didn’t start that well with the ball. Then came Yuzi Chahal and he picked up two wickets in an over. After that, he was stopped. In my opinion, if Yuzi Chahal didn’t bowl four overs in yesterday’s match despite taking two wickets in his first over, you missed a trick,” NDTV quoted Akash Chopra saying on his YouTube channel.

“I was a little disappointed because you were holding back his three overs. You could have dismissed Nicholas Pooran because he bowls very well to lefties but you stopped him. You said you will get him to bowl later. It was slightly surprising,” the former cricketer added.

Too many options- Bane or Boon?

Akash Chopra mentioned some strategic mistakes and pointed out that the right combination of balls must have been used against specific batters of the West Indies. He added that sometimes we don’t know if having too many options is a bane or a boon.

“Kuldeep Yadav bowled his entire quota of overs. Axar Patel bowled only two overs because a left-hander in Nicholas Pooran was playing and he could have hit him, so you didn’t give him overs. At times you don’t know whether having too many options is a bane or a boon,” Akash Chopra said.

The opening duo of Ishan Kishan (6) and Shubman Gill (3) couldn’t provide the team with the required start. Tilak Verma tried to form a partnership with Suryakumar Yadav (21) and Hardik Pandya (19), but the wickets kept falling and finally, the team only managed 145/9 against a target of 150.

Updated: 05 Aug 2023, 03:50 PM IST