The former opening batter for India, Aakash Chopra, noted that even though most of the pundits and experts of the game have already blamed the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, for his decision to bowl first under overcast conditions in the third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, he won’t do the same.
Aakash Chopra addressed that it was a tricky call based on the green tinge of the surface and the overhead conditions. On a rain-halted opening day of the fixture, Australia finished with 28/0 in just 13.2 possible overs, where all the three Indian pacers, Jasprit Bumrah, Aakash Deep, and Mohammad Siraj weren’t up to the mark with the bowling plans.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, the former opener claimed that the Indian captain went with his gut feeling, and when all of these aspects go in one direction, most of the leaders look to bowl first.
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“Tough one. Many times, in such conditions, you consider batting first a brave decision because your gut feeling, when you see the greenery on the pitch and the overcast overhead conditions with chances of rain, says everything is hinting in one direction that you should win the toss and bowl first.” Aakash Chopra expressed this in the video.
Aakash Chopra reckons this reason behind India’s decision to bowl first
The veteran also claimed that during the series opener at the Optus Stadium in Perth, India struggled with the bat in the first innings before they collected a huge score in the follow-up to collect the victory under the captaincy of Jasprit Bumrah.
On return to India, Rohit asked for batting first in the day-night affair at the Adelaide Oval, but they struggled in that department and were bundled out for 180 in the first innings, followed by 175 in the second. Aakash Chopra is not prepared to show his frustration towards the Nagpur-born for the decision.
“However, in such a scenario, when you decide to bat first sometimes – like India did in Perth, it worked out beautifully. The second time also decided to bat first, but it didn’t work out beautifully, that was the pink-ball Test. So I won’t kill Rohit Sharma or the Indian team for the decision.” The renowned commentator shed light.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra felt that the conditions would be expected to get easier for the batting side as the game progressed. In the past, the former England, Nasser Husain, was also blamed for one of his decisions to bowl first after winning the toss at the Gabba.
“Many times, when you see the pitch, you feel you should bowl first, that you will bowl out the opposition quickly, as we also got out in the last match. We fell short. Our batting did not fire. Conditions have a role to play. There is a lot of help on the first day, and then the conditions become better for batting.” Aakash Chopra explained.
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The expert of the game also advocated that the poor batting performance of India might have worked in pushing Rohit to go for the fielding first decision in Brisbane. The weather forecast isn’t quite healthy for the course of the game, and a poor first innings with the bat would have drawn the visitors down in the encounter.
“When you have not batted well in the previous Test match, you feel that even if there is a slight chance of doing a little better by doing something, you try that. I know people will look back and say that you should have batted after winning the toss, but I won’t be too critical. I can understand why the Indian team decided to bowl first.” Aakash Chopra concluded.