All plans will fall apart without him. You can find replacement for Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, but ...': Aakash Chopra

One of the many reason behind India's forgettable outing in the 2021 T20 World Cup was lack of balance in the squad. With Hardik Pandya continuing to recover from his back issues, he featured in the team solely as a batter and hence failed to provide India with that extra bowling option. However, India have bounced back from the low over the course of 2022 and now have picked a perfectly balanced squad for the impending Asia Cup tournament. And following the announcement of the 15-member squad for the competition, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra made a massive claim on Hardik Pandya and the importance of his place in the India T20I squad.

Speaking to Star Sports after the big announcement, Aakash stressed on the importance of Hardik bowling four overs in a T20I game and the balance he provides to the XI. He opined that India can go ahead to find replacement for Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and even Jasprit Bumrah but there is none for Hardik, without whom all of India's plans for the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup will be.