Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned critics for trolling India batter Suryakumar Yadav after Team India’s loss in the 2023 World Cup final against Australia. The World Cup finalists will take on each other in a five-match T20I series, with the first game taking place in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. Suryakumar, who scored a 28-ball 18 in the World Cup final, has been named the captain of India as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Suryakumar Yadav has been made the captain because he didn’t get opportunities to do a lot in the World Cup. When he got a chance in the final, he couldn’t do much and because of that, he has been trolled a lot. It pains you at times. Why are you blaming one person? It was a difficult pitch and he didn’t fire. That pitch probably didn’t suit him that much as well. He scored runs against England and didn’t get a chance to score runs in other games. Even Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer didn’t score runs in the final, so why are you blaming him?”
Meanwhile, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer managed four runs each in the World Cup final and India could only manage 240 and eventually lost the game by six wickets as well. With Ruturaj Gaikwad being named as the vice-captain for the first three T20Is, Aakash Chopra added that the selection conundrum for the openers’ positions as well.

“Ruturaj Gaikwad is being given a lot of attention because he was the captain in the Asian Games and won a gold medal there as well. I think it’s going to be very interesting because you cannot make Yashasvi Jaiswal sit out,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “The way Yashasvi is playing and he hit there (Asian Games) as well, he is a damn good cricketer. So if you get Yashasvi Jaiswal to open alongside Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj might play at No. 3, or else if you do an amazing job by making Yashasvi sit out – I don’t know. It’s going to be difficult.”