Aakash Chopra Takes Indirect Dig At Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer For Prioritizing Personal Milestones

Former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has taken a sly dig at Indian batters Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer for slowing down during middle overs to complete their centuries in the second ODI against Australia.

Aakash Chopra’s comments came after Australia beat India by 66 runs in the third and final ODI on Wednesday (September 27). Riding on half-centuries from David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne, Australia piled up a mammoth total of 352 for 7 before bowling out India for just 286 runs.

Warner gave Australia a solid start by smashing 56 off just 34 balls before Marsh scored 96 off 84 balls and missed out on a well-deserved ton by just four runs. Smith scored 74 off 61 balls while Labuschagne scored 72 off 58 balls. For India, captain Rohit Sharma smashed 81 off 56 balls and Virat Kohli scored a fifty too but their efforts were not enough for a win.

After the match, Aakash Chopra heaped praise on Marsh for not slowing down his scoring rate despite approaching his century. Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former India batter said that Marsh did not look bothered about getting out despite nearing a century.

“Australia batted first after winning the toss and hammered India on a very flat pitch. Jasprit Bumrah conceding 51 runs in his first five overs. It doesn’t happen often. [Mohammed] Siraj and Prasidh Krishna were also expensive. The top four scored half-centuries. Any one of them could have hit hundreds,” Aakash Chopra said.

“Mitchell Marsh came very close. One thing you would have noticed in his batting is that he did not slow down. He was not worried about his century at all and just wanted to keep hitting. He was not bothered about getting out,” he added.

Aakash Chopra takes a dig at Indian batters:

Speaking further, Aakash Chopra took an indirect dig at Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill for their approach with the bat during the second ODI. Even though India won the game by 99 runs (DLS method) after scoring 399, Aakash Chopra pointed out that both the batsmen had slowed down for their personal milestones.

“The interesting part of the partnership was that between 20 and 30 overs, only 52 runs were scored. We did not lose any wickets and it was not as if Australia had started bowling really well. Both batters were approaching their respective hundreds and took their time, so too many runs did not come during that period.”

“In this match, it’s okay. Shreyas Iyer is coming back from injury and wants to score runs. When you look back, you can say that India won by 99 runs. But the effort should be to maximize the balls as much as possible. Instead of 52, if we had scored 70-75 runs in the 20-30 over period, India’s score would have been 425,” Aakash Chopra said.