New Delhi, May 16: With the Cricket World Cup 2019 approaching, former cricketers are joining the fans to back their favourite sides and highlight the potential weaknesses of their opponents.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra and ex-New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris entered a friendly banter and questioned each other's world cup-bound team's preparations and the areas that need immediate improvement for a long run in the quadrennial extravaganza.
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Both India and New Zealand have picked up strong 15-member squads for the upcoming multi-nation contest and experts opining that these two teams could very well finish amongst the top-four.
The teams will be playing a couple of warm-up games each in England ahead of the opening game between England and South Africa on May 30. 10 of those practice games will be aired live by the broadcasters.
A fan asked cricketer-turned commentators India's Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Manjrekar, New Zealand's Scott Styris and Australia's Dean Jones about what should fans watch out these practice games for.
10 warm-up matches (including both India warm-ups) will be aired live. 2 each on 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th & 28th (India plays on 25th and 28th). What should fans watch out for in these games? @cricketaakash @ProfDeano @scottbstyris @sanjaymanjrekar can better explain
— Sanjog Gupta (@Sanjog_G) May 16, 2019
Replying to this, Styris said teams must be looking to check their combinations, while Team India would look to find an answer to it's No. 4 spot and whether Kuldeep Yadav be able to retain his positing in the Playing XI or Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal beat him to that.
"Combinations? Who will bat FOUR for India? Will Kuldeep keep his spot in front of Jadeja and Chahal? Will NZ lose a single match in this tournament? #classact," tweeted Styris.
Combinations? Who will bat FOUR for India? Will Kuldeep keep his spot in front of Jadeja and Chahal? Will NZ lose a single match in this tournament? #classact
— Scott Styris (@scottbstyris) May 16, 2019
Responding to which, Chopra trolled the former Blackcap cricketer and tweeted, "All of the above with a minor adjustment-how many times NZ will lose in this tournament."
All of the above with a minor adjustment—how many times NZ will lose in this tournament. 🙈
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 16, 2019
New Zealand have never won the World Cup and the Kiwis came close to winning it in the previous edition in 2015 when they ended up losing to arch-rivals Australia.
For New Zealand, Grant Elliott scored 83 off 82 deliveries in the final but the Kiwis lost the match to Michael Clarke's side by 7 wickets.