Former Indian opener and cricket commentator Aakash Chopra has criticized Indian captain Rohit Sharma after India’s defeat in the first test against New Zealand.
India lost the first test of the 3-match series against New Zealand in Bengaluru by 8 wickets. The hosts had a horrible first innings where they got bowled out for just 46 runs. New Zealand needed to score 107 runs to win on the 5th and final day. Ravichandran Ashwin, who’s arguably the the best spinner in tests at the moment, bowled only two overs in the second innings which surprised the fans and experts.
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra was very critical of Rohit Sharma for underutilization of the off-spinner. On his YouTube channel, Chopra said that, “No doubt the runs were less but we didn’t get Ashwin to bowl at all. I am not saying we would have won the match if Ashwin had bowled but we didn’t get him to bowl. That was surprising.”
Interestingly, Ashwin bowled 16 overs in the first innings which was the least amongst the five bowlers India used in the game.
All-rounder Washington Sundar has been added to the squad for the remaining two games. There are chances that he might be unwell or injured and it was a precautionary measure by the team management to not risk him.
“Would’ve been better if you hadn’t called Ashwin to bowl”: Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma
Ashwin came to bowl in the second innings when the Kiwis required only 10 runs to win the test. The former Indian opener added, “Why was Ashwin not bowled? I don’t have an answer for that because if you see his numbers, he is your team’s best bowler. No one has taken more wickets than him in Test matches. Left-handers were playing but you still didn’t get him to bowl. It was not understandable at all.”
He agreed with Rohit’s decision to use Jasprit Bumrah for a long spell. But very disapproving of bowling Ashwin so late in the game. He said that the game was already decided when Ashwin came to bowl in the second innings.
Aakash Chopra further added, “You still understand Bumrah’s long spell because only two wickets fell and he took both. However, Mohammed Siraj from the other end. Although he was bowling well with the new ball when you stopped him, you could have got either Jaddu or Ashwin first, that’s fine, but you used Ashwin as the fifth option”.
Chopra further said that he thinks India really missed a trick by not bowling Ashwin early. It is beyond my understanding why he wasn’t bowled.
He concluded with, “The match was over. There was no life left in the match. 15 or 20 runs were left and you called him to bowl. It would have been better if you hadn’t bowled him at all. This question should have been asked in the post-match press conference.
