Sri Lanka’s World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga’s ‘second-string Indian team’ remarks have become a talking point in the cricketing world ahead of the Sri Lanka-India limited over series. Former Indian opening batsman and renowned cricket commentator Aakash Chopra has reacted to his comments via his personal YouTube channel.
Appearing on his latest YouTube video, Chopra has said that though the touring Indian team is not their main team, they can match Sri Lanka in terms of experience.
“It is absolutely right that it is not the main team, the likes of Bumrah, Shami, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja are not there. But is it really like a B-grade team?” Chopra asked.
Read: Rain saves Sri Lanka from defeat
“India’s probable ODI XI has played 471 ODIs in total, of course, this is not the first team. When Sri Lanka picks the team, it will be interesting to see how many matches in all they have played. When you try to match experience to experience, it will be a very exciting exercise,” he added.
Commenting further Chopra said that Sri Lanka will have to play Word T20 qualifiers whereas a team like Afghanistan don’t have to and there is a possibility that Sri Lanka might not qualify for the T20 World Cup this year.
Read: 10 cricketers enter bio-bubble in Colombo
“Sri Lanka will have to look inwards as well. Let’s be honest, Afghanistan don’t have to play the World T20 qualifiers, you have to. This is a reality. The truth is that Sri Lankan cricket is really struggling at the moment, even if you look at the England numbers now,” Chopra said.
“There is a possibility they may not qualify for the T20 World Cup, that they do not come in the main draw at all. You may not be there in the Super 12. That is also a reality and Afghanistan is already there,” he added.
