Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra recently shared that Team India were afraid to sledge West Indies’ batting legend Brian Lara as well. He revealed that during a tour of West Indies, India discussed in their team meeting that they won’t try to sledge the batting legend as well.

During the JioHotstar show, ‘Cheeky Singles’, he said: “The sledging was not pre-planned, but I know of an incident where the plan was that you would not sledge him, us se panga nahi lene ka hai (We would not mess with him). It was during India’s tour of the West Indies, and Brian Lara had that aura. It was decided in that Indian team meeting that we would leave him alone, nobody would say anything to him, and he would get out by himself when it had to happen. But if you rile him up, then sawaari apne samaan ki khud hi zimmedar hai (You are responsible for your actions).”

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However, Aakash Chopra also stated that he was once sledged by former Australia opener Matthew Hayden as well. Moreover, Chopra wasn’t even in India’s playing XI when that happened as well.

“I was once sledged by Matthew Hayden. I was not even playing that match, and I was like, ‘Mujhe kyu kar raha hai bhai?’ (Why was he doing that to me?) I was there just to field. I thought, it’s your pitch, you just bat. I was supposed to field for a while and leave. Why did he sledge me? But that was an Australian thing to do. I hadn’t said anything; it was totally unprovoked,” Aakash Chopra concluded.