“You may wonder if KL Rahul is needed now,” Aakash Chopra believes Ishan Kishan has made a strong claim for opening slot in South Africa series

The former Indian batsman Aakash Chopra reckons Ishan Kishan has done so well at the top of the order in the recent T20I series against South Africa that it’s very much possible that people start wondering if he should be one of the first-choice openers in the T20 XI of India now.

Currently, as things stand, when India has their full-strength T20I team available, the regular captain Rohit Sharma and the vice-captain KL Rahul are the first-choice openers, while the former captain Virat Kohli bats at no. 3.

But, according to Aakash Chopra, Ishan Kishan is a left-hander, and hence, he is a favorable match-up against different kinds of bowlers as compared to a right-hander. So, there might be a school of thought or probably an argument if India should go with a left-right combination at the top of the order to counter different matchups.

Apart from Ishan Kishan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar another positive for India: Aakash Chopra

Apart from the fact that Ishan Kishan made use of his opportunities, Aakash Chopra is very happy with the resurgence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar as well, who has shown enough signs that he is back to his best and is swinging the new ball.

While India has had a couple of death bowlers in the set-up, what they have been lacking in T20 cricket of late is the ability to take wickets with the new ball, as Bhuvneshwar had lost his swing for a little while, but he seems to be back to hooping the ball both ways again.

Aakash Chopra, while speaking on his youtube channel, insisted that India might not have won the T20I series against South Africa, but there have been a few positives to take forward from this series and Ishan Kishan and Bhuvneshwar are certainly two of them.

Since KL Rahul has reportedly been ruled out of the England tour, Ishan Kishan is expected to open the batting for India in T20Is not just in the Ireland series, but in the England series as well.