Former India player Aakash Chopra has criticized Team India for resting Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the second ODI against the West Indies. Sanju Samson and Axar Patel replaced them in India’s playing XI in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday, July 29. West Indies took advantage and registered a six-wicket win as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra added: “You might be wondering why Rohit and Kohli weren’t there. Was it because the opposition team collapsed in the last match? The West Indies looked extremely ordinary while batting first, so India thought they won’t play their main players, let’s experiment a little more. Could that have been the reason?”

READ MORE: Harbhajan Singh says Australia have the upperhand in the WTC final

The former Indian opener further added: “If that was the reason, even you could have got out in one match, that your team gets bowled out for 150, like you made 181 now. So should West Indies ask Shai Hope to rest as this Indian team is very weak? That doesn’t really cut it in my opinion because the World Cup is not too far.”

Aakash Chopra again shared that the World Cup preparation can only be done if the team plays together in all ODIs. He also stated that it’s important to bat at the right positions as well.

READ MORE: Sanjay Manjrekar dissects Virat Kohli’s poor show in WTC Final

“The second point could be that players need rest, that a lot of cricket is happening and workload management is required. The truth is that there was one match in June (the WTC final), two matches in July that lasted seven days, and one ODI match. So you played eight days of cricket overall (in July),” Aakash Chopra concluded. “There is no ODI cricket in the entire August, except the last match of this series, but I am assuming why will you play the last match if you didn’t play this one. You didn’t bat in the first match in any case. You will straightaway play in the Asia Cup in September. So the workload is not that much if you see it from that angle.”