'Made joke of Indian cricket and did disservice': Aakash Chopra explodes as BCCI issues travel guideline

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has recently opened up on the new guideline issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding the team's travel from the hotel to the ground.

Recently, the BCCI made it compulsory for all the players to travel in the team bus which means that no individual would be allowed to travel individually. The change in guidelines comes on the back of India's 1-3 Test series loss to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Chopra predicted that the rules might have changed for some players which is the reason why the board had to specifically announce it. He also slammed the players and the coach who were involved in it and blamed them for "a huge disservice" to Indian cricket.

Also read: "The 'Chappell Way' doesn't work in India" - Gautam Gambhir sent huge warning by Ex-BCCI selector

Aakash Chopra breaks silence on BCCI's new rule changes

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra opened up on BCCI's new rule changes which also involved the players traveling together in the team bus to the ground. Chopra hailed the board's decision but wondered why it had to be specifically announced citing that the players travelling in the team bus is normal.

"The first report, which I liked, was that all players will travel in the team bus, and I am thinking this has been happening forever. The team bus has been named team bus because of that only, as the entire team will travel in it," Aakash Chopra said.

"At least until we were playing cricket, the team used to travel only in the team bus. It's a very normal thing. It's par for the course. It has to happen like that," he observed.

"It's like telling someone that you would get breakfast and not lunch in the morning. However, if this has been said, it means some rules had been changed and would have especially been changed for some individuals," he added.

Aakash Chopra slams players for "a huge disservice"

Further speaking on the topic, Aakash Chopra claimed not to know about the player who has been involved in these things but slammed him for doing a disservice to Indian cricket. He also believes that it wouldn't have happened without the coach's approval and called him equally responsible for letting it happen.

"Whoever did that has made a slight joke with Indian cricket and did a huge disservice because how can you treat people differently, or else you didn't treat them differently but gave the entire team the allowance to come in 15 separate vehicles. It wouldn't have happened without the coach's approval," Chopra said.

"So somewhere or the other, the coach or the team management allowed it to happen, that it's okay whichever way you travel and then we can meet at the ground. That is just plain wrong," the former India batter added.

What is the rule change regarding India's travel?

Recently, India's head coach Gautam Gambhir, captain Rohit Sharma, and the chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar met BCCI officials at the board's headquarters in Mumbai to discuss about the team's performance in Australia.

The team leadership was told to return to the basic protocols which involved traveling with the team together on the bus rather than opting out to go individually. When the players are in their home city, they often try to travel individually through their respective vehicles to the ground.