After Team India failed to win the second Test against Sri Lanka, former India player Aakash Chopra has added that the drawn game was almost equivalent to a loss. He added that the result is a huge setback to India’s World Test Championship (WTC) final aspirations as well. However, India would have hoped to register an easy win heading into the final day (Thursday, August 27) in Colombo as Sri Lanka had only a 16-run lead with four wickets in hand. But they lost only three wickets on the final day to draw the game as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Let’s first talk about the impact of us not being able to win this game on WTC. We have not lost. We have won the series. We have maintained our impeccable record against Sri Lanka, but this drawn game is as good as a win for Sri Lanka. For us, this drawn game is not really a loss, but it’s almost equal to a loss.”
“We have got four points. So it’s not bad. It would have been only 50 percent points had we lost, and it is 66.67 percent. So we have gained something, but it’s not good enough because Sri Lanka was a tour where you were hoping to get 100 percent points,” he again shared.
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“Then, in the remaining seven matches, two are against New Zealand in New Zealand, and five are against Australia in India, it would have worked out if an odd match had not gone in our favor. However, after this match was drawn, your comfort window is shrinking. The opening from which we can enter the final is shrinking. So this is going to be a tough one,” Chopra shared again.
However, Aakash Chopra also added that the rain forecast virtually forced India to enforce the follow-on in the second Test against Sri Lanka as well.
“We lost so many overs in this match because of rain, and India had to enforce the follow-on because of that. We bowled nearly 90 overs in the first innings. After 90 overs, you generally say, ‘Let’s not enforce the follow-on.’ Basically, the weather forced our hand,” he stated again.
“If 450 overs are not bowled, then you are doing a disservice. Instead of five days, can we say Test cricket will be a 450-over or a 440-over game? Why are we losing so many overs and not doing anything about it? I have put my hand up for this very, very radical suggestion,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
