It Was An Extremely Disappointing Campaign For Virat Kohli As A Captain: Aakash Chopra
Chopra highlighted that the T20 World Cup 2021 could be Team India's worst performance at a global event in recent times
Mumbai: Cricketer-turned-broadcaster Aakash Chopra pointed out that Virat Kohli’s tenure as T20I captain has ended on a depressing note, as he had announced early that he will be stepping down as captain.
Team India couldn’t live the dream of winning an ICC trophy after 8 years and crashed out of the T20 World Cup 2021 after New Zealand’s win over Afghanistan.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra has highlighted that the T20 World Cup 2021 has been an extremely disappointing campaign for Virat Kohli as Team India’s skipper.
He observed, “This is where one story is ending. It is Virat Kohli’s first and last T20 World Cup as captain, he will not be seen again as a captain in the shortest format. Virat and Ravi Shastri’s pairing is also finishing here. It was an extremely disappointing campaign for Virat Kohli as a captain.”
Defending Virat Kohli on losing toss against Pakistan and New Zealand, Chopra reasoned, “He didn’t win the tosses but did you lose the matches because of that – no, that is not the truth. Good teams win matches despite losing tosses as South Africa showed us in Sharjah against England.”
Virat Kohli has lost three of the four tosses in the tournament so far. Although the Indian bowlers might have been hampered somewhat by the dewy conditions in the second innings, the underwhelming totals posted by their batters against Pakistan and New Zealand didn’t allow any pressure to be put on the opposition.
Chopra further highlighted that the T20 World Cup 2021 could be Team India’s worst performance at a global event in recent times.
He said, “We were timid in the beginning. We were slightly cagey, we were not playing in a fearless, carefree and bold fashion. What could be the reason for that, I don’t know. This could actually go down as one of Team India’s poorest World Cup campaigns.”
Stating that Virat Kohli’s side will be deeply hurt by their disappointing returns, Chopra concluded, “I am reminded of the 2007 World Cup. After that, there were one or two T20 World Cups where we didn’t reach the semi-finals, but this is the first time in the last 7-8 years we have not done that. So, this is going to hurt really badly.”
Team India last failed to reach the semi-finals of an ICC event at the 2012 T20 World Cup. They were pipped by Australia and Pakistan for a knockout stage berth based on the net run rate on that occasion.
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