Asia Cup 2022: "When we lost here last year, many said it was because of Virat Kohli" - Aakash Chopra on India's debacle
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra believes Virat Kohli was unnecessarily made a scapegoat for Team India's disastrous T20 World Cup campaign last year. The Men in Blue couldn't make it to the knockouts and Kohli had to step down from the white-ball captaincy soon after.
Many felt that with Rohit Sharma leading the team, India would dominate the Asia Cup in the UAE. However, it is deja vu for the fans as they will have bad memories of Dubai once again, with India having already been knocked out of the Asia Cup with a Super 4 game still to play.
Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel on Thursday, Aakash Chopra explained why captaincy was not the reason behind both these debacles. He said:
"When we lost here last year, many said it was because of Virat Kohli and that they should change the captain. Now even Rohit Sharma couldn't win here. So that shows that the team selection is the problem and not the captain."
Chopra also spoke about the way Team India continue to raise eyebrows with some of the baffling selections in this year's Asia Cup. He said:
"Last time you suddenly picked players out of the blue and left out Chahal. You opened with Ishan Kishan. And now you continue to do the same. You opened with Ishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, and Deepak Hooda, and now suddenly you don't have DK the finisher at No. 7, and have just three (fast) bowling options."
Prepare Hooda as top order batter & play him as finisher instead of DK, who is a finisher
Make Dhawan opener for preparatory matches, but play someone who came out of injury
Prepare Bhuvi for powerplay & give him 2 overs in death
Exclude Shami from T20 coz vibes nai aa rahi https://t.co/bwKEwMsw6M
Aakash Chopra on Team India's changes against Afghanistan
Although the game against Afghanistan on Thursday is a dead rubber with both teams knocked out, Aakash Chopra feels the Men in Blue have a lot of questions to answer and set their balance right once and for all.
He believes the constant chopping and changing has hurt the team. On this, he stated:
"India might play Deepak Chahar and Axar Patel or Ravi Bishnoi. You need to play wicket-taking bowlers and play DK if you aren't going to give Hooda any overs. There is a lack of clarity in the planning. We do so many changes looking at the opposition, but Sri Lanka and Pakistan have made just one change each and yet are in the final."
Will Rohit Sharma and his men manage to salvage a consolation win and bow out of the tournament with a high? Let us know in the comments.