India’s former opening batter, Aakash Chopra, has slammed the country’s superstars for carrying themselves to the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 as a punishment. Rohit Sharma and Virar Kohli have featured in the last two rounds of the red-ball domestic tournament after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made it mandatory for the national selection.
India’s Test and ODI captain played for Mumbai after nearly a decade against Jammu and Kashmir at the Sharad Pawar BKC academy. The right-handed batter failed to enjoy his time in that contest, with low scores in both innings. Rohit wasn’t in good touch at home during the three-match series against New Zealand, with just 91 runs in six innings at an average of 15.15, celebrating one fifty that came during the second innings of the series opener at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
The Nagpur-born was absent from the first Test of the five-match series in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 down under, as he could notch up only 31 runs in five innings at an average of 6.20 at the best score of 10. His place was stable neither in the middle nor the top order.
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The same story continued for India’s former captain, Virat Kohli, who kept repeating the same mistake. Kohli has been fishing outside the off-stump for a long time, while his game against the spinners has dropped significantly. At home, the Delhi-born could get only 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50, thanks to one half-century in Bengaluru.
Aakash Chopra slams India’s stars for taking domestic cricket as a punishment for posting
Kohli celebrated an unbeaten century during the second innings of the opening red-ball clash of the BGT 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth. But rather than going upwards from that point, his form became poor. The veteran ended with just 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75, with that lone century.
Kohli turned up for Delhi after nearly 12 against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The Delhi and District Cricket Association made special arrangements for the batter, who pulled a huge number of crowd in the contest. KL Rahul, who missed their last game against Punjab, faced Haryana in the last-group game. Ravindra Jadeja had a wonderful time against Delhi in the last round at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, picking up 12 wickets. He continued his time with the red-ball for Saurashtra.
“Virat Kohli has become ready to play the game in Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. He was practicing with Sanjay Bangar earlier in Albaugh. He was trying to solve his back-foot and outside-off problems. So he has tried, and now he is back at the Ranji Trophy level.” Aakash Chopra mentioned during a new video on his YouTube channel.
Along with India’s superstars, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal also featured for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. The former went through the entire season of domestic cricket, as he looks to make a return to the national side during the three-match ODI series at home against England.
“Shreyas, Rohit Yashasvi have all given it (Mumbai’s must-win match against Meghalaya) a miss. Ultimately, everyone has done the token job.” India’s former opening batter addressed. “Virat had not played (in the first match of the current round of the Ranji Trophy), so he is playing this match. Everyone else has marked their attendance.”
“What does it tell you? Well, what it tells me is that it is looking like a punishment posting. But first-class cricket is not a punishment. The fact is that it is a privilege for others that they are getting to play with you, and it is a chance for you to find form.” Aakash Chopra added.
The ongoing round of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 ends on February 02. India will start their home series on February 06 before their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign begins on February 20.