Aakash Chopra picks his top 5 cricketing moments of 2020
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has made his picks of the biggest talking points of 2020 in the world of cricket. He shared his choices in a video shared on his Facebook page.
MS Dhoni bidding adieu to international cricket was the biggest moment of the year as picked by Aakash Chopra.
"The biggest story of the year was MS Dhoni announcing his retirement. It was an era that has finished. It was known that he might not play, but the finality was not there. We were all waiting, but 2020 was the year when he announced his retirement through an Instagram video. We all obviously are going to miss him," said Chopra.
The reputed commentator chose Virat Kohli's failure to score a century in 2020 as the second defining moment of the year. However, he acknowledged the reduced international calendar did play a role in that.
"At No.2, I am going with a story of a different kind. Virat Kohli did not hit a single hundred in the year although there were fewer matches. It's not that there were no matches at all. He played in New Zealand, an entire IPL and then in Australia. He has scored runs, but the century did not come. Before that, it was in 2008 when this happened," observed Aakash Chopra.
Mohammad Hafeez's excellent run with the bat in the shortest format of the game was Aakash Chopra's pick as the third biggest talking point of 2020.
"My third story is Mohammad Hafeez. He has done a praiseworthy job. His stature grew in T20 cricket. He took his PSL team to the final, and his numbers in 2020 have been sensational," pointed out Chopra.
Apart from his exploits in the Pakistan Super League, Hafeez finished as the highest run-scorer in T20Is in the year gone by. The middle-order batsman smashed 415 runs in just eight innings, doing so at an outstanding average of 83 and an excellent strike rate of 152.57.
Aakash Chopra's final two picks for the best moments of 2020
![Aakash Chopra lauded the Mumbai Indians for defending their IPL title [P/C: iplt20.com]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/01/a6706-16094772815354-800.jpg)
Mumbai Indians' record-extending fifth IPL triumph was picked by Aakash Chopra as his fourth top moment of 2020.
"Then the story of Mumbai Indians. They won the title for the fifth time. Defending the title is a very difficult task, but the margin with which they won, it seemed they were sitting high on the pedestal while others were fighting to reach there. Such dominance is very rarely seen in T20 cricket. They have shown they are the best franchise team in the world," said Chopra.
Aakash Chopra signed off by choosing James Anderson achieving the monumental 600-wicket mark in Test cricket as his fifth biggest moment of the year.
"My last story will be about James Anderson. He has reached 600 Test wickets, the only fast bowler to do so ever. He has been that kind of a player," concluded Chopra.
The moments chosen by Aakash Chopra certainly raised a lot of eyebrows.
Stuart Broad crossing the 500-wicket milestone in Tests and Australia continuing their domination of the women's game with the T20 World Cup triumph in front of a record crowd were also some headlines he notably didn't pick.