IPL 2021: Aakash Chopra picks his top six players ahead of the tournament

Many Indian cricketers and foreign players have managed to make heads turn and impress the who’s who of the cricket fraternity with their scintillating form while performing on the domestic or international level. Ahead of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the former Indian batsman and renowned commentator and cricket analyst Aakash Chopra picked six players whose recent performances should excite their IPL franchises.

Young Devdutt Padikkal had a dream IPL debut last year while opening the innings for franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The batsman is continuing his stunning form in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy too. Speaking about the same, Chopra reckoned that Devdutt’s red-hot form is an absolute delight for RCB.

“I will talk about Devdutt Padikkal first. He is the future of Indian cricket and RCB’s present. He is in absolutely red-hot form. I am pretty sure RCB is looking at his form very closely and India is also looking at it very closely because he is a long-term prospect,” Chopra said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.

Prithvi Shaw had to deal with major setbacks in the past few months as he dropped from the Playing XI of Delhi in IPL 2020 followed by India’s Test team. However, the opening batsman made an amazing comeback by registering the record score of an unbeaten 227 runs against Puducherry. Thus, Chopra believes that Shaw is hurt from the rejections and is expected to score a plethora of runs.

Aakash Chopra picks three overseas players in his list

The third player picked by Chopra in this elite list is Mumbai Indians’ top-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav. Yadav recently received his maiden call for the Indian side as he was picked for the five-match T20I series against England, starting from March 12. Aakash believes that Surya is consistently performing and trying to break the door down.

The last three picks by the former KKR player were three overseas cricketers including Delhi Capitals’ Marcus Stoinis, Chennai Super Kings’ Mitchell Santner, and Mumbai Indians’ new addition Jimmy Neesham. Both Stoinis and Santner are in excellent form in the T20I series against New Zealand.

Speaking about Jimmy Neesham, Aakash Chopra stated, “Last but not the least, Jimmy Neesham. He smashed 45 not out off 16 balls including four consecutive sixes. Mumbai Indians have acquired him at base price. He will not play at the start but eventually, there is a possibility he might play because of the balance.”