Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra took a dig at the sports media for giving more attention to the ‘sources’ over certified comments from BCCI officials. He remarked after the reports regarding the split captaincy came in the news recently.
As per that news of that popular media house, Vrat Kohli will step down from the white-ball captaincy after the upcoming T20 World Cup and Rohit Sharma will lead the team as well. However, BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal rubbished all the news, saying Kohli will retain the captaincy across formats.
“The most interesting thing about this is that we have got the news via ‘sources’, but there’s been an official interaction with Mr. Dhumal as well. Mr. Dhumal, the BCCI treasurer, said there had been no such meeting and the report was a figment of imagination. But what gets more attention from our beautiful media? The news from the ‘sources’ because that is far more interesting, it has conspiracy theories and the world is open to debate which feels nice. The actual officials from the board aren’t listened to. That’s why I’d suggest you just wait and watch. If Rohit becomes captain, great, if not even then it’s absolutely fine because it’s not about Virat or Rohit, it’s about Indian cricket,” Aakash Chopra said in a Q&A interaction on his YouTube channel.
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Meanwhile, the reports also suggested that Kohli will do this to focus more on his batting. While he has led India to many successful series, he has failed to win an ICC Trophy so far. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma has shown immense potential as a captain and has won five Indian Premier League titles for the Mumbai Indians as well. However, India will begin the T20 World Cup 2021 campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24 in Dubai.
“A lot will depend on the result. Unfortunately, we are all result driven people who don’t like it all if India come back without winning the World Cup. In this situation, if India make a podium finish then Virat Kohli will continue. If not, then this will again be out for speculation. But it is also true that India haven’t won an ICC trophy since 2013 and that should not be the case when you are the world’s best team… so this question will be answered only after the World Cup,” further said, Aakash Chopra.
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“Until then, I feel the speculation we are doing is not justice to the team. It’s not right to speculate: ‘Team might not do well and then he’ll leave the captaincy’. He might leave it after winning it too. Rahul Dravid did that after winning the 2007 series in England. I don’t know what will happen and let’s not go there. There’s no need to speculate, it will all clear out in 2 months,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
