Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra slammed the England cricketers, who pulled out of the upcoming second leg of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League. Earlier it was Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes had pulled out due to injury concerns and mental health well-being respectively, while Jos Buttler pulled out because of ‘personal reasons’.
On Saturday, it was learned that Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes, and Jonny Bairstow won’t be taking part in the tournament either. Chopra reckoned that these players could find themselves in trouble in the upcoming editions of the tournaments. He also said that the IPL fraternity won’t easily forget the steps taken by the England players. Speaking on his official YouTube channel, Chopra said:
“Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes – they were already not coming. But now Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow have also taken their name back. That means half a dozen English players will not be part of the IPL. It has been a mass exodus. The IPL family doesn’t forget,”
Aakash Chopra, who has played for the Kolkata Knight Riders said that the England cricketers’ withdrawal is likely to disturb the balance of a number of IPL teams. He said:
“The English players will have to keep this thing slightly in mind that when you pull out your name from an IPL season, the franchise that has bought you feels cheated, they feel you have been betrayed by them,”
He added:
“Of course, these are tough times. We do understand all of that but it remains in the mind that I had gone with you and had created my strategy after a lot of thinking, you were an important cog of my wheel, but the cog has left,”
Meanwhile, talking about replacements, South Africa’s Aiden Markram has replaced Malan in the Punjab Kings while Sherfane Rutherford has replaced Jonny Bairstow in West Indies. New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips and South Africa’s Tabraiz Shamsi, West Indies’ Evin Lewis, and Oshane Thomas have been roped in by the Rajasthan Royals.
