DTVHINDI‘To be honest, he was not a friend’, Aakash Chopra opens up about his relationship with Gautam Gambhir
We were competitors in the beginning. To be honest, he was not a friend- Aakash Chopra Gautam Gambhir and Aakash Chopra Once upon a time, Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir used to open for the Delhi team in domestic cricket. But after retiring from cricket, both of them are now seen in different roles. While Aakash Chopra is seen doing commentary, Gautam Gambhir is currently the head coach of the Indian cricket team. Aakash Chopra’s international career was quite short. However, during a discussion, he shared an interesting anecdote related to Gautam Gambhir. Chopra talked about the personality of the Indian team’s head coach as well as some aspects that he lacked. To be honest, he was not a friend- Aakash Chopra “We (Gambhir and I) were competitive because we were fighting for a spot. We had a very good team. When we were playing, either (Virat) Kohli or (Shikhar) Dhawan would get to play. In fact, there was no place for Veeru (Virender Sehwag) to open. Veeru batted at number four so that we could play one of Shikhar and Virat at number three,” the former cricketer said on the Figuring Out podcast hosted by Raj Shamani. We were competitors in the beginning. To be honest, he was not a friend. But he was a very passionate, very hardworking and very serious person about his skills. He scored a lot of runs. He always followed his heart. He was very emotional and very short tempered. Chopra continued, “He is a good-hearted person. Comes from a very affluent family. For a kid like that to have that kind of passion…he would be on the field all day. He was born with a golden spoon, not even a silver one. It is a different journey, like Abhinav Bindra. Gautam has a very clean heart.” Let us tell you that Gautam Gambhir won his first series as the Indian head coach, which was the T20 series against Sri Lanka. However, after this the Indian team had to face defeat in the ODI series.
“Dhoni didn’t bat much in the nets, he preferred bowling”- Aakash Chopra narrated a funny anecdote about Mahi
Aakash Chopra recalls how MS Dhoni’s breathtaking shot stunned him. (Photo Source: X(Twitter) Before MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik debuted for India as a wicketkeeper-batsman. While Dhoni later went on to become the most successful wicketkeeper-batsman, Karthik’s place in the team suffered due to his unavailability. With the competition getting tough, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra revealed that the Ranchi batsman used to bowl to Karthik in the nets. Indian player Aakash Chopra also shared a funny anecdote related to Dhoni. He said that while playing for India A, Dhoni played a shot which he did not practice in the nets. It was in 2004, when Aakash Chopra and MS Dhoni were in Bangalore for India A’s camp. Akash Chopra made a big revelation about MS Dhoni Akash Chopra, while recalling his old days with MS Dhoni, said that ‘Dhoni and I have a very old relationship. I had played for India by then. We had a camp in Bangalore. When I reached the hotel, I was told that Dhoni is my roommate. I was told that he is from Ranchi. I had seen Dhoni playing in the Deodhar Trophy earlier as well. Where he had scored a lot of runs. Apart from this, I did not know him much at that time. Then we were roommates in Bangalore for a month. Dhoni was carefree. While playing for India, he played a reverse sweepshot against a Pakistani bowler named Iftikhar Anjum which was beyond my imagination. Because I had never seen Dhoni hit such a shot in the nets. Dhoni did not bat much in the nets. He used to bowl to other batsmen in the nets except Dinesh Karthik. Akash further said, ‘Dhoni’s phone used to ring a lot. But he never picked up the phone. ‘Once I asked Dhoni what time he sleeps. He said that you can sleep whenever you feel like it. Dhoni was a non-vegetarian and I was a vegetarian. But he ate vegetarian food for 1 month for me. He was also very shy at that time.’
“2013 changed his career…”,- Aakash Chopra’s statement on Rohit Sharma’s cricketing journey
The most important moment of Rohit Sharma’s career was when he was opening with Shikhar Dhawan in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy – Aakash Chopra Rohit Sharma & Aakash Chopra (Photo Source: Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, India won the T20 World Cup 2024 title in June this year. Rohit Sharma was appointed the captain of white-ball cricket in 2021, after which he became the captain of all formats in 2022. Under the leadership of Hitman, the team also reached the finals of the ODI World Cup 2023 and the World Test Championship, but the team could not win the trophy. Rohit Sharma made his international cricket debut for India in 2007, but he was not a regular in the national team initially. He was given many opportunities but due to lack of consistency, he failed to make a place in the permanent Team India, he was also out of the 2011 ODI World Cup team. Meanwhile, recently cricket commentator Aakash Chopra has made a big statement about Rohit Sharma’s cricketing journey. Rohit Sharma entered the golden phase of his career after 2013- Aakash Chopra Recalling Rohit Sharma’s cricketing journey, Aakash Chopra said that not being able to play in the 2011 ODI World Cup will definitely hurt him. The cricket commentator also said that it was the year 2013 that changed Rohit’s career forever. Talking on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said, Rohit Sharma’s initial years in international cricket were full of ups and downs. His talent was clearly visible, but he could not convert his starts into big scores. Rohit suffered a major setback in 2011 when he was dropped from the ICC World Cup team. The most important moment of Rohit Sharma’s career was when he was opening with Shikhar Dhawan in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. The cricket commentator further said, Opening gave him the freedom to play his natural game and Rohit’s career started to rise from there. Rohit entered the golden phase of his career after 2013. Rohit became one of the most prolific batsmen in limited overs cricket. He was known for his ability to play long innings and score runs quickly. Rohit’s ability to change gears during an innings has become legendary.
I think Rohit Sharma’s journey with Mumbai Indians is over now: Aakash Chopra
Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, Mumbai Indians have won the trophy of this great tournament five times. Aakash Chopra Rohit Sharma (Photo Source: Twitter) Former player Aakash Chopra believes that the Mumbai Indians team will not retain Rohit Sharma in the Indian Premier League 2025 auction. According to him, Rohit Sharma himself would like that the franchise does not retain him and releases him. Let us tell you that under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, Mumbai Indians have won the trophy of this great tournament five times. Not only this, he has also played an important role in the victory of Mumbai Indians with his batting. In the IPL 2024 auction, Mumbai Indians traded Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans and appointed him as the captain of their team. Mumbai Indians’ performance in IPL 2024 under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya was disappointing. Aakash Chopra shared a video on his official YouTube channel and said about Rohit Sharma’s future with Mumbai Indians, ‘Will Rohit stay or leave? This is a big question. My personal opinion is that Rohit Sharma will not stay. Any team that retains a player will want the player to stay with them for 3 years, yes if your name is not MS Dhoni. The story of Chennai Super Kings and Dhoni is very different but Rohit Sharma himself will leave Mumbai Indians or the team will remove him.’ I think Rohit himself would not want to be retained: Aakash Chopra Aakash Chopra further said, ‘Anything can happen but I don’t think Rohit will be retained. I don’t know anything about it but my personal opinion is that Rohit will be released. Rohit can go somewhere else through the trade window but he will definitely be seen in the auction. His journey with Mumbai Indians is over now.’ Regarding Suryakumar Yadav, Aakash Chopra further said, ‘I don’t think Mumbai will leave Suryakumar Yadav nor will the experienced batsman himself want to leave. I have not heard anything about this but he will remain with the Mumbai team.’ Batsmen who hit the most sixes for India in the death overs of T20I Batsmen who scored the fastest T20 century for Australia- Mushir Khan broke Sachin Tendulkar’s 33 year old record Wicketkeepers with most Man of the Match awards for India 7 expensive watches of Hardik Pandya and their prices, know here- Virat Kohli has earned more than 8 billion rupees in the last 12 months List of teams scoring the most runs in the power play of T20- Rahul Dravid became rich after becoming the head coach of Rajasthan Royals These 5 Indian cricketers pay the highest tax, you will be shocked to know the amount Haris Rauf’s wife is extremely beautiful, even Bollywood actresses fail
“I don’t see anything for Shreyas Iyer in Tests at the moment”- Big statement by Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra and Shreyas Iyer (Pic Source-Twitter) The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for the upcoming Test match against Bangladesh three days ago, in which many players have returned to the team. Left-arm fast bowler Yash Dayal has also been included in the team for the first time. However, one name that was missing from the list was that of Shreyas Iyer. Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has made a big statement about Iyer. The former batsman believes that Iyer will not get a chance to play Test for the next few days. India toured Bangladesh in 2022, Aakash Chopra talked about Iyer’s performance in that series. However, he rightly pointed out that his performance has not been that good since then. Chopra says that for this reason, Iyer may not be thinking much about Test cricket right now. Shreyas Iyer will not get a place in Test cricket right now- Aakash Chopra Aakash Chopra, while answering a question asked by a commentator in a video uploaded on YouTube recently, said, “It is interesting that the last time we beat Bangladesh in Bangladesh, Shreyas Iyer played a very crucial performance in the last match. We won because he played a crucial innings, but since then, the world has changed. I don’t see any prospects for Shreyas Iyer in Tests at the moment.” Talking about Iyer’s position in the team, Chopra said that there were at least three players from the current setup whom he could think of who would not get a place for the first Test, which shows how far Iyer is in this race. The former cricketer further said, “Whoever is there will not be able to play all the matches. Those who are part of this team, including Sarfaraz, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel. I think they themselves will not be able to get into the playing XI. So where will Shreyas Iyer come in this?”
Aakash Chopra slammed the management for the continuous changes in the batting lineup of the Indian team during the Sri Lanka tour
India performed poorly in the ODI series and were defeated by Sri Lanka 2–0. Aakash Chopra (Photo Source: Twitter) India’s tour of Sri Lanka ended on 7 August. In this tour, India clean swept Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20 series. However, India’s performance in the ODI series was quite poor and Sri Lanka defeated them 2-0. Under the coaching of Gautam Gambhir, the Indian team could not perform well in the ODI format. In this ODI series, it was seen that a lot of changes have been made in the batting lineup of the Indian players. Former player Aakash Chopra put forward his point of view regarding this. In the T20 series, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh and Riyan Parag also bowled very well and took important wickets for their team. However, in this tour, the players of the Indian team failed to bat well. Aakash Chopra said on his official YouTube channel, ‘Number four has now become a revolving door as we have given batting order to different players in every match. What is the idea of making a player like KL Rahul bat at number 6 or number seven? Why don’t you fight from the beginning? In India, KL Rahul was included in the playing XI for only two matches and then he was dropped. It was really surprising to see this because KL Rahul was in his plans since 2023. This is also because no one else had scored more runs than him in the middle order since 2023. Number four has now become a matter of concern for the Indian team Let us tell you, in the first ODI match played between India and Sri Lanka, Washington Sundar batted at number four but he scored only five runs. After this, Shivam Dubey was given this important responsibility in the second ODI but he could not even open his account and India lost the match. In the third and final ODI match, Rishabh Pant was included in the team and was given batting at number four but he returned to the pavilion after scoring good runs. The Indian team will have to give a chance to such a player in this order as soon as possible, who can bat well at number four and win the hearts of all the fans. 5 Australian players who scored half-century in their debut IPL match IPL 2024: These 11 foreign players took crores of rupees but flopped IPL 2024: 5 players who hit the most sixes in the 19th and 20th overs of IPL 5 fastest bowlers in IPL history Who are the head coaches of all 10 teams in IPL 2024? Which team has won the most matches against RCB in Chinnaswamy IPL 2024: 3 former RCB players who are wreaking havoc in SRH 4 players who have played more than 500 T20 matches MS Dhoni: Dhoni’s amazing record as CSK captain Which teams changed their captains before the start of IPL 2024
Aakash Chopra lashed out at Team India’s bowling in the third ODI against Sri Lanka, said this big thing
Sri Lanka defeated India by 110 runs in the third ODI. Aakash Chopra (Image Credit- Twitter X) The third and final match of the ongoing three-match ODI series between India and Sri Lanka (IND vs SL) was played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, August 7. Let us tell you that in this match, host Sri Lanka made a big upset and won a big victory against Team India by 110 runs. So with this win, not only did Sri Lanka win the match, but also won the ODI series against the Indian cricket team after 27 years. Batting first, Sri Lanka set a target of 249 runs for the Indian team to win, while chasing which Team India was reduced to just 138 runs in 26.1 overs. On the other hand, after this poor performance of the Indian team in the match, a big statement has come from former Indian cricketer and well-known cricket commentator Aakash Chopra. Chopra says that the Indian bowlers were not cruel in this match. Aakash Chopra gave a big statement After the end of the third ODI between India and Sri Lanka, Aakash Chopra said through a video uploaded on his YouTube channel- We were not able to finish Sri Lanka’s innings in bowling. There seemed to be a sense of complacency that we would get wickets anyway and if we did not get wickets, we would chase the runs anyway. There was a lack of brutality in bowling. Chopra further said- I think we outplay the opponent and play spin very well on flat wickets. Our bowlers also bowl better than them on such pitches. However, when the pitches start turning, our batting becomes normal and the difference in bowling quality reduces. So, this is a problem they have to solve.
“I don’t remember the last time this happened”- Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli’s poor performance
Virat Kohli LBW. (Photo Source: Sony Liv) India’s star batsman Virat Kohli scored 24, 14 and 20 runs respectively in the recently concluded three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka and interestingly, he got out against spinners in all the matches. Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra said, Kohli, who is known to be a very good player of spin, misread the line and length against them. Virat Kohli was out LBW in all the matches of the ODI series against Sri Lanka and every time a review was taken on the ball of his dismissal. ODI series In the first match, Wanindu Hasaranga dismissed him, while Jeffrey Vandersay and Dunith Welalage took his wickets in the second and third matches respectively. Kohli’s struggle against spin is not new. In the last few years, he has struggled a lot against wrist spinners and this trend continued in the Sri Lanka series as well. Aakash Chopra gave a big statement about Virat Kohli Regarding this, Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel, “Virat Kohli was LBW three times in three innings against spinners. I don’t remember when this happened last time, he was playing the wrong line and also used the review every time. He was not able to put pressure on the bowlers with his batting in the series.” The cricketer-turned-commentator also spoke about Shreyas Iyer, who has also struggled in the series. Iyer made his debut after being dropped from BCCI’s central contract but failed to make a mark in the three-match series. He had a great chance to perform well and cement his place in the squad for the Champions Trophy 2025, but Iyer scored only 38 runs in the series. Speaking about this, Chopra said that he is not sure why good spin players are struggling. He said, “Shreyas Iyer is considered a good player of spin, but he too was unable to counter the spinners twice and got out due to speed once. If the performance of our good spin players is like this, then I don’t know why this is happening.”
“Suryakumar Yadav will not play in Champions Trophy 2025”- Aakash Chopra made a big prediction
Suryakumar Yadav has not been able to perform as expected in ODI cricket so far. Suryakumar Yadav and Aakash Chopra. (Image Source: BCCI/X) Suryakumar Yadav, one of the world’s most dangerous batsmen in T20 cricket, has not yet been able to perform as expected in ODI cricket. The ICC Champions Trophy is to be held in February and March next year. The Champions Trophy will be played in ODI format. Former Indian cricketer and famous commentator Aakash Chopra has made a big prediction about Suryakumar Yadav. Chopra believes that T20 batsman Suryakumar Yadav will not play in the Champions Trophy because he is not fitting into the ODI team. Let us tell you that BCCI has recently appointed Suryakumar as the captain of the Indian T20 team. He beat Hardik Pandya in the race for captaincy. However, Surya did not get a place in the ODI squad against Sri Lanka. Aakash Chopra made a big prediction about Suryakumar Yadav When Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar was asked about this in the press conference, he said in clear words that Surya will remain a part of the T20 setup for now. Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel, “Suryakumar Yadav was part of the team that reached the ODI World Cup 2023 final. He was also in the team that played the T20 World Cup 2024 final. He took a wonderful catch of David Miller. However, Surya is no longer a part of the ODI team. In such a situation, when questions were asked about Surya, it was said that he is a great and special player but will be seen playing only in T20 Internationals. His name was not considered in ODIs. If his name is not being discussed and the Champions Trophy is about to come. So you can assume that Suryakumar will not be seen in the Champions Trophy. The former cricketer said that Shubman Gill is sure to play in the Champions Trophy. Chopra said, “Gill will be seen in the Champions Trophy. He (Agkar) said that Gill is a player of all three formats. Gautam Gambhir (head coach) also believes that if a player of all three formats is found then there is nothing wrong. Gill’s captaincy has also been seen. Whatever captaincy he has done, it has been liked. Therefore, he has also been made the vice-captain.
“Where is Avesh Khan after all….”- Cricket commentator Aakash Chopra raised questions on Indian management
The team recently went for the T20 World Cup and Avesh Khan was in the reserves. Where is Avesh Khan after that?- Aakash Chopra Avesh Khan and Aakash Chopra (Photo Source: X/Twitter) Indian young fast bowler Avesh Khan got a place in the team in the Zimbabwe tour, he also took 6 wickets in three T20 matches. But then he did not get a place in the squad for both the white-ball series of the Sri Lanka tour. Meanwhile, former Indian player Aakash Chopra is venting his anger on the Indian management. Chopra says that if BCCI wants to invest in Avesh Khan, then they will have to give him opportunities. Avesh should have been on the Sri Lanka tour- Aakash Chopra Cricket commentator Aakash Chopra, while talking on his YouTube channel, said, This is a good question because the team recently went for the T20 World Cup and Avesh Khan was in the reserves. Where is Avesh Khan after that? If we want to invest in him then Avesh Khan should have been there. He should have been there on the Sri Lanka tour and should have played matches in Zimbabwe as well, where was he – nowhere to be seen. Prasidh Krishna has the potential to become a good bowler- Aakash Chopra Aakash Chopra has expressed his desire to see fast bowler Prasidh Krishna in the T20 format. He also stressed that even though Prasidh Krishna is an expensive bowler, he has the potential to become a great bowler in the T20 format. Let us tell you that Prasidh Krishna was part of the Indian squad in the ODI World Cup 2023. After the tournament, he played a few more matches for India. But he got injured while playing for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy. No information has been revealed about when Prasidh Krishna will be able to return. I personally rate Prasidh Krishna very highly, although his stats in T20s are not very good. He has taken a beating whenever he has played, but I would like to invest. He has the potential to become a very good bowler even at the highest level. So they should start investing in him right now and have a clear roadmap for Avesh Khan as well.