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“We are playing cricket like legitimate champions” – Aakash Chopra on Team India
By SMCS - Nov 10, 2023 10:03 am
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Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra believes the Indian team and players topping most of the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings show their current dominance in international cricket as well. However, India have won all eight of their games in the ongoing 2023 World Cup so far and they have occupied the top spot in eight categories in the recently released rankings as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “The Indian team is at No. 1 in every ranking – No. 1 in ODIs, Tests and T20Is. No. 1 ODI batter – Shubman Gill, No. 1 T20I batter – Suryakumar Yadav, No. 1 ODI bowler – Mohammed Siraj, No. 1 Test all-rounder – Ravindra Jadeja, all are ours. We are not letting anyone come close. We are not only playing like No. 1, we are ranked No. 1 as well. We are playing cricket like legitimate champions – not only in one format but in all three formats. If we had an awards night now, our team would have got all the awards.”

Apart from the aforementioned players, veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is perched atop the ICC Test bowling rankings as well. However, Aakash Chopra feels Angelo Mathews trying to prove that his strap broke within the allowed two minutes does not have any relevance as well.

“Angelo Mathews has added a little spice. He has put a video that shows he was ready in 1 minute and 54 seconds. He said – ‘I rest my case’. Six seconds were left when the strap got broken. The question is whether he would have been ready in that or not, but it’s irrelevant. Firstly, Bangladesh shouldn’t have done it. Behave yourself, honestly. The umpires could have also said that it’s okay. It can be carelessness but it wasn’t cheating. There is an ethical debate about the run-out at the non-striker’s end because one guy is cheating there,” he concluded.