Former India opening batter Aakash Chopra slams the Indian selection committee for dethroning Shikhar Dhawan as the ODI captain for the upcoming Zimbabwe series.
Aakash Chopra Backs Shikhar Dhawan
Following the West Indies tour, team India was scheduled to play 3 ODI matches against Zimbabwe which begins on August 18. Dhawan has been named as the captain of the Indian cricket team when BCCI announced the ODI squad for the Zimbabwe tour.
BCCI announced the captaincy change decision right after KL Rahul clears his fitness tests. Notably, Dhawan led India in the 3-match ODI series against West Indies and went on to win all three matches.
“If it was in my hands, I would have avoided that,” Chopra said on Rahul replacing Dhawan as the captain on the tour.
“He (Rahul) was originally not named in the squad for Zimbabwe series, I understand he is the vice-captain for the Asia Cup but there is another truth that currently there are 8-10 captains in the team.
Rishabh Pant is captain, Hardik Pandya is captain, I do not think Suryakumar is far away from captaincy. Rohit Sharma is the captain, Virat Kohli has been the captain before. It was not important, this thing could have been avoided,” Chopra said in a video posted on his official YouTube channel.
“Shikhar Dhawan is a senior guy, how does it matter that if he is the captain? KL Rahul can play purely as batter, it does not matter if he is the captain or not. You could have carried on with it, if you had announced Shikhar Dhawan as captain, you could have let it be. In my opinion, Dhawan should have stayed as the captain,” he reiterated.
“The BCCI Medical Team has assessed KL Rahul and cleared him to play in the upcoming three-match ODI series in Zimbabwe. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has appointed him the captain of the side and named Shikhar Dhawan as his deputy,” the BCCI said in a statement.
India Squad
KL Rahul (Captain) Shikhar Dhawan (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohd Siraj, Deepak Chahar.
