Aakash Chopra wants Virat Kohli as India's Test captain, KL Rahul as T20I captain

The coronavirus pandemic has brought all the cricketing action to a halt. However, with the situation seemingly improving and normalcy being restored in some countries such as England, authorities are gunning to get international and domestic cricket back. The upcoming England-West Indies Test series, scheduled to commence from July 8, is all set to mark the return of international cricket.

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However, in order to make up for the lost revenues, cricket boards across the globe are exploring all the options to play separate red-ball and white-ball teams simultaneously which could be during the same season or series or in fact, the same day. Keeping  such a possibility in mind, cricket experts have started naming their teams for the same. The latest to join the bandwagon is former India cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra, who named his 12-member squad for both Tests and T20I formats in a YouTube video on his channel.

Aakash Chopra picks India's Test and T20I team, appoints KL Rahul as captain in T20Is

As far as Tests are concerned, Aakash Chopra named Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal as the openers of the side. The No.3 position is occupied by Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara followed by Virat Kohli, who is also the captain of Aakash Chopra's Test team. The ever-reliable Ajinkya Rahane takes the No. 5 slot and has also been also named the vice-captain of the side. 

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Hanuma Vihari is assigned the No.6 batting position. The wicketkeeping duties were assigned to Wriddhiman Saha, who is one of the best keepers in the world at the moment. Ravichandran Ashwin is the solitary spinner in Aakash Chopra's XI with Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav forming the pace battery. Kuldeep Yadav was named the 12th man of the team.

Coming to the T20I XI, Aakash Chopra went with KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan as his openers with the former being appointed as the captain of his side. The No. 3 and No. 4 slots were occupied by Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey whereas the wicketkeeper's role was given to the young Rishabh Pant. Hardik Pandya is one of the two all-rounders in the side at No. 6.

Sharing the spin duties are Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal. While Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah form the pace attack. Aakash Chopra named Shardul Thakur as his 12th man for the T20I side.

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Aakash Chopra’s India Test XI

Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Chesteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (Wicket-keeper), Ravi Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav (12th man)

Aakash Chopra’s India T20I XI

KL Rahul (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (Wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur (12th man)

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IMAGE COURTESY: AAKASH CHOPRA TWITTER