"What is with all the rest? How much rest do you want?"- Aakash Chopra on India's senior players rested for West Indies ODIs
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has been left surprised that India's senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be rested for the ODIs against West Indies later this month.
Both Rohit and Virat are undergoing rough patches of form since IPL 2022 and were already rested for the T20I series against South Africa at home. Rohit even missed the one-off Test against England due to COVID-19.
However, after the white-ball leg against England, the two stars, along with Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, won't be traveling to the Caribbean for the three ODIs.
Here's what Aakash Chopra had to ask about the same on his YouTube channel:
"What is with all the rest? How much rest do you want? Earlier, when a player used to be out of form, he used to be dropped and picked again only when he scored runs in domestic cricket. But now whenever someone is out of form, he rests. Are you guys not worried about it?"
Aakash Chopra also shed light on the importance of game time when a certain player is out of form. He believes that the Men in Blue have had enough rest over the past couple of years and added:
"I personally think whenever someone is our of form, he should play as much cricket is possible. When there were strict bio bubbles, there was no cricket for almost six months in 2020 from March to September. Next year again you play one half of IPL and then after gap of three-four months you played the second half. So it's already a rest of ten months in 2-3 years. You don't get anymore rest than this in professional sport."
twitter.com/BCCI/status/15…
Pant deserved rest he has performed also and has been playing from a long time and on what basis Rohit(All format captain) and Virat Kohli are being rested for every alternate series? All this just for a flop show in World Cup?
It's a shame to be very honest 😐 twitter.com/BCCI/status/15…
Aakash Chopra on India's squad rotation
Aakash Chopra also has his doubts about India constantly rotating their squad for different bilateral series, even when the T20 World Cup is just around the corner.
The 44-year-old made a valid point about fringe players scoring big runs and then being unfairly left out when the main players return from rest.
On this, Chopra stated:
"It's good that India keep on giving opportunities to players like Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson when the big players are rested. But what when these fringe players score runs. Do you tell them that they are dropped just because the big players are available now? Won't they feel what wrong they have done?"
Most senior players who have been rested for the West Indies ODIs are expected to be available for the five-match T20I series in the Caribbean later.