Aakash Chopra asked why Rishabh Pant Despite performing very well with the bat across the formats, he was dropped from his role as India's vice-captain in Test cricket. When the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee announced the squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan starting on Saturday, June 6, KL Rahul replaced Pant.
While Chopra believes that Pant could come back into the captaincy picture in the future, the former India opener urged the wicketkeeper-batsman to focus on performing well in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and scoring runs in the red-ball format.
Chopra replied, “He has to think about what has happened to him because being removed as Test vice-captain is not a big deal. He has done nothing wrong. He is actually a very good Test cricketer. I don't know why he was removed from the vice-captaincy there, but he has been removed.”
He said, “For the last two years he has not got any opportunities at all in ODIs and suddenly, he is out because Ishan Kishan has come in. A very middling IPL. You need a better IPL than this, and you need to score runs in Tests too to get back that lost glory. He may also get the captaincy, although the captaincy CV is not looking good after what happened at LSG.”
I was wondering when was the last time he had a 500-plus season: Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma
Aakash Chopra also expressed surprise at Rohit Sharma not being able to score 500 runs in an IPL season since 2013, despite opening the batting in recent seasons.
He replied, “I was wondering when was the last time he had a 500-plus season. It's been a decade since he had a 500-plus season. He's won a lot of trophies in the meantime, but hasn't had a 500-run season and he plays as an opener.”
Chopra said that for someone who has scored three triple centuries in ODI cricket, scoring more than 500 runs in an IPL season should not be a huge task.
He said, “It's a bit of an anomaly because he was part of a very good team and lifted the trophy. All other things are fine, but a 500-run season should come. We can skip this season because he was injured, but it doesn't feel right. He scores 200 runs in an ODI for India, but not being able to score 500 runs in an IPL season is a bit surprising.”
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