With the World Cup Opener match set to begin on October 5, Former Cricket Aakash Chopra warns England not to overplay their batting department.
Aakash Chopra warns England to focus on bowling
England will be facing New Zealand in the opening match of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 at Narendra Modi Stadium. This could be a rematch of the 2019 World Cup finals. With both sides having their key players sidelined due to injuries, they are planning various strategies to clinch victory.
On this occasion, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra warns the England side to place more importance on the bowling part.
Chopra said that England has been impressive in the batting department over recent matches. The team will not struggle even if Ben Stokes is unavailable for the match due to a hip niggle.
While speaking on his youtube channel Aakash Chopra said, “Irrespective of whether or not Ben Stokes plays, it won’t matter that much. There is a lot of depth in England’s batting. Liam Livingstone comes in after Jos Buttler and he is followed by Sam Curran and Chris Woakes. Their strategy will be to keep going after the bowling. That is what I feel.”
“They are batting-heavy, but they should not drown in that batting depth. We saw it with Australia recently. Let’s see whether or not England fall into that trap. Also, they have not played a lot in Asia in the last two to three years,” he added.
While speaking about the bowling department Chopra feels that defending champions are slightly weak with only a couple of wicket-takers.
He said, “England are looking a little light in the bowling. They are a slightly bowling-weak team. They have wicket-takers Mark Wood and Adil Rashid. There are not too many other wicket-takers. Reece Topley, on his day, yes. Chris Woakes, Sam Curran – not the same quality,” he concluded.
England will be missing the services of the specialist batter Ben Stokes against New Zealand as the player sustained a hip niggle during the practice session. With the team hoping for his recovery, Jos Buttler said that the player will be missing the match against Kiwis.
Ben Stokes was placed in the World Cup ODI squad after reversing retirement decision. He was impressive during the 3rd ODI of New Zealand tour of England where he scored 182 runs on 124 deliveries.
The match will kickstart at 2:00 PM IST with the toss taking place at 1:30 PM at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
