Former India opener Aakash Chopra and now a renowned commentator got trolled heavily on Twitter on Friday for giving what fans called a contradictory opinion to his previous one on while defending KL Rahul’s approach in India’s second innings in the ongoing first Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram.
India took a big lead of 254 runs having bowled Bangladesh out for 150 after putting up 404 in their own first innings. KL Rahul, the captain for this Test standing in for the injured Rohit Sharma, and the management of head coach Rahul Dravid, decided to not enforce the follow-on and keep batting, in order to give rest to their own bowlers and tire out the hosts’ and also to make Bangladesh bat in the 4th innings of the match on Days 4 and 5 with the pitch at its worst wear and tear.
With no pressure of scoreboard or run rate, KL Rahul, however, still couldn’t make a big score, and was dismissed for 23 runs off 62 balls (strike rate of 37!), following up from his first innings score of 22 runs from 54 balls (strike rate of 40).
Aakash Chopra defends KL Rahul’s approach, gets slammed by netizens
Ahead of the start of this Test in Chattogram, KL Rahul has promised the fans of an aggressive brand of cricket after he’d been queried about England’s Bazball, the aggressive approach Ben Stokes’ team have adopted under new head coach Brendon McCullum.
However, looking at KL Rahul’s conservative knocks in both the innings in this Test, the opener has been under the scanner, not just for his low scores but also for his low strike rate.
Even Aakash Chopra had, at the start of the match, asked India to embrace an attacking mindset and go for a big total.
When a Twitter user pointed out that KL Rahul himself batted at a low run rate in this innings despite promising aggressive batting before the game, Aakash Chopra jumped to the Indian opener’s defense.
“Does it really matter tbh? Always respect the situation and the conditions. Winning a Test match isn’t equal to winning the popularity contest. India’s in the pole position…will have enough overs to dismiss B’desh too,” Chopra replied.
Does it really matter tbh? Always respect the situation and the conditions. Winning a Test match isn’t equal to winning the popularity contest. India’s in the pole position…will have enough overs to dismiss B’desh too. https://t.co/0dI8qgJMVd
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) December 16, 2022
Fans jumped to the gun as Chopra defended Rahul’s timid approach, and called out the hypocritical opinion and his change of tack after pointing out his earlier tweet that stated: “Pitch looks flat. Ergo, Five proper bowlers in the playing XI. India wins the toss and…as expected…bats first. Now, to take a leaf out of England’s new approach to Test cricket (don’t aim for 500 in a day but score 350-375 at least) and be aggressive with the bat.”
Here are the tweets trolling Aakash Chopra:
Sar aap toh khud England style of Cricket maang rahe the team se, despite knowing that we have been playing most aggressive Version of Test Cricket for the last 7-8 years.
— Ricky talks Cricket (@CricRicky) December 16, 2022
Aakash chopra ji dholak jaise hai kisi side bhi ludak jaate
— Suraj (@Cricket_1807) December 16, 2022
Odd even like Kejriwal…
— tea_addict 🇮🇳 (@on_drive23) December 16, 2022
@cricketaakash kuch bhi bhaisahab pic.twitter.com/OZNzzahmPM
— Amit Jaiswal (@Master_bat_ter) December 16, 2022
Aap toh kuch aur bol rhe thay 3 din pehle 😭😭😭
Journalism ne aapko bhi Dogla bana diya Aakash Gameplan Chopra ji
— Siddhant (@SiddViz) December 16, 2022
Pitch is Flat.
India is in Pole Position.
Then why Run Rate is at 2 ? 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/FJRYIN7fwJ
— Mid Wicket Memes (@MidWicketMemes) December 16, 2022
2 din pehle bol Rahe thhe England approach.
Aur aaj ye aree bhai ek batt pe tik jaa.— Ranjay choubey (@ranjaychoubey) December 16, 2022
