T20 World Cup 2026: I don’t see batting handedness as a problem for India, says Aakash Chopra

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that the lack of right-handed batters in India’s lineup ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 is not a major concern. He pointed out that India won the T20 World Cup 2024 with a batting order dominated by right-handers.

If Ishan Kishan opens alongside Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma bats at No. 3, India could field a lineup stacked with left-handers. Chopra made the comments while responding to suggestions that the defending champions might have only two right-handed batters, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya, in their top eight should Kishan open with Abhishek.

“This is very interesting. Earlier, we used to say that a left-right combination should be there, and that left-handers are very important. Now we are saying keep right-handers as there is no one else apart from Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik. Is that a problem?,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“You want to play your best team. If it’s all right-handers, they also play. You keep an odd left-hander in between. You used to send Axar Patel up the order at times. You have done this job earlier. You even won the World Cup with that. Here you can keep right-handers in between. I don’t see that as a big problem,” he added.

Chopra was also asked about India’s biggest weakness heading into the T20 World Cup and stated that there is no major vulnerability in the Men in Blue’s setup. He noted that, aside from the possibility of a rare batting collapse, issues such as dropped catches and the impact of dew could pose challenges for Suryakumar and his teammates.

“I don’t see a potential weakness. There might be a day when, because we have a lot of strokemakers, we are suddenly 25/3 or 25/4, and then we are not able to really manage. That’s a possibility, but it’s a long shot,” said Chopra.

“We might drop catches. That could be a potential weakness. In bowling, I feel everything is fine. Dew could be a problem. There is no such thing as weakness in this Indian team,” he added.