Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra reckons Rohit Sharma wasn’t hinting at any particular players when he said that only those who have the hunger for Test cricket will be given opportunities in the format. However, Team India beat England by five wickets in the fourth Test in Ranchi on Monday and took a 3-1 lead in the five-match series. In the post-match press conference, Rohit Sharma stated that the hunger required to succeed and excel in the longest format as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Rohit Sharma has said that this is the toughest format and if you have to succeed in that, you need a lot of discipline and dedication. He also said that it’s evident if someone does not have that hunger, but he was not hinting at anyone. If you hear his entire bite until the end, he also said that there is no one within the playing group or outside who is saying that they don’t want to play. So he was not taking potshots at anyone.”

Aakash Chopra said that what Rohit Sharma said was correct. However, he also said that Indian cricket is in a fairly decent space as they have many committed senior and junior players.

“Stokes is saying that no one had given them a chance and that they did a great job reaching here. Someone also said that adapting to the situation is Bazball’s theory. Is everything Bazball? I am not saying the team is saying that but the English media becomes overactive,” he concluded. “I would say have a little realization that you had many opportunities to be at par or go ahead in this series. Your middle order doesn’t turn up at all. The middle order is a disorder. If they do an honest assessment, they will find that the middle-order batters’ performance has been extremely ordinary.”