Former India cricketer-turned-pundit Aakash Chopra does not shy away from a strong opinion or two on his YouTube channel. Now, picking the Team of the Tournament for the 2024 T20 World Cup, Chopra left out final heroes Virat Kohli and Axar Patel, as well as Rishabh Pant from his XI. However, five Indians still made it to Chopra’s best team. He also left out the world’s No. 1 T20I batter Travis Head, as well as fellow Australian star Pat Cummins, from his side.
Chopra went for an opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Rohit Sharma. Gurbaz finished as the top run-scorer of the 2024 T20 World Cup with 281 runs in eight innings. Both batsmen also made a joint-highest three half-centuries in the tournament. Chopra also specified that Rohit would be his captain.
"There is no better captain than Rohit Sharma in the entire world at the moment," said Chopra.
He picked Nicholas Pooran at No. 3, Suryakumar Yadav at No. 4 and Heinrich Klaasen at No. 5.
"Rishabh Pant scored runs at the start, but after that he went cold," reasoned Chopra for leaving out the Indian wicket-keeper batsman.
Chopra went with Hardik Pandya as the only batting all-rounder in his side, leaving out Marcus Stoinis, who had scored 169 runs in just five innings, and had picked up 10 wickets in the tournament. Pandya, by contrast, made 144 runs in six innings, but scalped one more wicket.
"Hardik Pandya has been the best all-rounder in the World Cup. No one came close to him," said Chopra, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals between 2008-2011.
Rashid Khan was an obvious pick, but Chopra left out Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel for Bangladesh’s Rishad Hossain, who claimed 14 wickets during the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Finally, Chopra picked the three-highest wicket-takers of the tournament: Fazalhaq Farooqi, Arshdeep Singh and ‘Player of the Tournament’ Jasprit Bumrah to conclude his Team of the Tournament.