Former cricketer Aakash Chopra has raised concerns over Rinku Singh's batting position in the current Team India T20I set-up. The Men in Blue kickstarted the T20I series against South Africa with a massive 61-run triumph in Durban to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. It was a clinical performance from Suryakumar Yadav and Co. as they completely outclassed the hosts in all three departments. Sanju Samson paved the way with a magnificent century, while other Indian batters failed to make substantial contributions, but the wicketkeeper batter kept going and helped the visitors cross the 200-run mark.

Meanwhile, Chopra was not impressed with the decision to send Rinku to the lower middle order at number 6 and raised a question about whether the team management was being fair with the left-handed batter.

"Are we being fair to Rinku? It's a very important question. Why am I asking this question? You kept him in the team first, he is your original choice player. He was in your team against Bangladesh and before that as well. Whenever you have sent him up the order or he has got to bat in the powerplay, he has scored runs every time," said Chopra on his YouTube channel.

Rinku came out to bat at number 6 in the first T20I and scored just 11 off 10 balls; he was dismissed by Gerald Coetzee in the penultimate over.

Rinku scored 490 runs in 27 T20Is, with the majority of his runs coming while batting from number 3 to number 5, with 305 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 178.36.

'Why don't you send Rinku Singh at No. 4?'

Chopra also suggested the same about Rinku's ability to bat up in the batting order where he can take the game forward and asserted that India had the opportunity to send him at number 4 on Saturday, which they wasted.

"He has scored a half-century every time. He has emerged as a crisis man. He scored those half-centuries at very good strike rates. So this was that opportunity. Why don't you send him at No. 4? What is the reason that you only send Rinku down the order, always at No. 6?" said Chopra.

Meanwhile, the former cricketer turned commentator further suggested that Rinku is not someone like Andre Russell or Hardik Pandya but can easily control the innings while batting up in the middle-order.

"I am asking this question only because Rinku can finish, but he is not just a finisher. This is my understanding. I feel he knows how to drive the game. He is hitting sixes but he is not someone who muscles the ball. He is not Andre Russell and he is not Hardik Pandya as well," he added.

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