'Why are you so rigid?' - Aakash Chopra questions India's five-bowler strategy after South Africa Test drubbing

Former Indian Test cricketer Aakash Chopra has questioned Team India's strategy of going with five bowlers after the Test series loss against South Africa. Giving further clarification on the same, Chopra mentioned that the strategy was not worth it as the batters were showcasing inconsistent performances.

The Indian team squandered an early lead that they had taken in the series-opener in Centurion as the Proteas staged a remarkable comeback to seal the three-match series 2-1.

"If your batting is misfiring consistently, then why are you so rigid? Why are you so adamant that you will play five bowlers always, along with five batters and Rishabh Pant. Rishabh Pant did score a century in the last innings, but his performance was okay-okay before that", said Aakash Chopra while interacting in a video posted on his official YouTube channel.

"Rahane is not scoring runs; Pujara is not scoring runs; Kohli has not scored a century, but still, we play five batters. We are not at all ready to play a sixth batter. I mean this was slight stubbornness that we will do like this only", the ex-opener added.

Lack of a sixth batting option did disturb India as they could only manage to post a score in excess of 300 on just one occasion which happened to be in the first innings of the opening Test in Centurion. Batting collapses were also a cause on concern for the visitors on testing South African wickets even after being in a position of strength.

Barring the second innings of the second Test match in Johannesburg, the number three and four batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane (also scored a vital 46 in Centurion) could not last long at the crease which gave additional responsibility to the middle-order for helping the team post respectable totals.