There is no doubt that runs were less but we did not make Ashwin bowl at all – Aakash Chopra
India had to face defeat by 8 wickets in the first test match against New Zealand. The Kiwi team has created history by winning the Test match on Indian soil after 36 years. Team India was all out for 46 runs in the first innings of the match. New Zealand had put 402 runs on the board in the first innings.
India made a brilliant comeback in the second innings and scored 462 runs on the basis of brilliant innings by Sarfaraz Khan (150), Rishabh Pant (99) and Virat Kohli (70). New Zealand had a target of 107 runs to win, which they achieved easily.
Jasprit Bumrah took only two wickets for India in the second innings. He bowled a long spell along with Siraj. After this, Ashwin was expected to come on the attack, but captain Rohit Sharma backed Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. Cricket commentator Aakash Chopra is not happy with this decision of Rohit Sharma.
Didn’t understand it at all – Aakash Chopra
Ravichandran Ashwin proved to be very expensive in the first innings against New Zealand, due to which perhaps captain Rohit Sharma showed more confidence in Kuldeep and Jadeja. However, Aakash Chopra believes that this was a wrong decision, as Ashwin is the most successful bowler of the team and his record against left-handed batsmen is excellent.
While talking on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said,
There is no doubt that runs were less but we did not make Ashwin bowl at all. I am not saying that if Ashwin had bowled, we would have won the match but we did not make him bowl. It was amazing and how. Why was Ashwin not made to bowl? I don’t have any answer to that because if you look at his numbers, he is the best bowler in your team. No one has taken more wickets than him in Test matches. Left-handed batsmen were playing but still you did not make them bowl. It didn’t make any sense at all.
There were 15 or 20 runs left and you called him to bowl – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra further said that by the time Rohit Sharma handed the ball to Ashwin, the match was out of India’s hands. He said,
The match was over. There was no life left in the match. There were 15 or 20 runs left and you called him to bowl. It would have been better if you had not made him bowl at all. This question should have been asked in the press conference after the match – ‘Rohit Bhai, what did you do?’. I thought India had definitely missed a trick and it was beyond me why they were not made to bowl.