India has already secured a spot in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup 2025, but former cricketer and astute commentator Aakash Chopra has put forth a provocative idea: why not send an additional India A team?
Axar Patel of India celebrates with team mates.
Chopra elaborated on his reasoning, pointing to Afghanistan’s struggles with batting in the tournament. He observed, "Bangladesh is still alive after beating Afghanistan, but Afghanistan are finding it tough to bat. The bowling is fine, fielding is okay, but the batting is the problem."
He then drew a direct comparison between India’s cricketing depth and Pakistan’s batting strength. "If you compare Pakistan’s batting with India A, our second team is probably stronger. Pakistan doesn’t really have match-winners across the board like we do," Chopra asserted, highlighting India’s vast talent pool.
To support his unique proposition, Chopra referenced Australia’s historical strategy. In 1994, an Australia A side competed in a quadrangular series alongside their main national team, impressively reaching the final after defeating England and Zimbabwe. Chopra believes that a similar approach would immensely benefit India by providing crucial match practice and exposure to promising young players, all while ensuring the main squad remains robust.
He even outlined a potential India A squad brimming with talent, including big names like Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, and Yuzvendra Chahal. Chopra is convinced that such a strategy would give India a significant competitive edge and foster the development of numerous future match-winners.
Ultimately, Chopra emphasized that while India’s current senior team boasts dominance in both batting and bowling, deploying a second team ensures that a wealth of talented players don’t miss out on vital opportunities due to limited slots in the primary squad.