Published 23:00 IST, November 13th 2020
Aakash Chopra shuns Gambhir's criticism of Virat Kohli for Bangalore's poor run in IPL
Shunning Gambhir's criticism of Virat Kohli, Aakash Chopra questioned that if Rohit Sharma would be able to lead the Bangalore to an IPL title victory
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Shunning former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir's criticism of Virat Kohli, cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra questioned that if Rohit Sharma would be able to lead the Bangalore to an IPL victory. Chopra remarked that just because Kohli's team does not do well, it does not mean that it is the skipper's fault. Gambhir had come out all guns blazing on Virat Kohli after Bangalore failed to reach the finals in the IPL 2020 and asserted that the Team India skipper should be held accountable.
'If Rohit was given Bangalore...'
Reflecting upon Gambhir's call to make Rohit Sharma India's T20 captain, Chopra opined that Mumbai's success story cannot be equated with India. "Gautam Gambhir believes that it is the nation’s misfortune if Rohit Sharma is not made the Indian T20I captain because he is the most successful captain in the IPL. But I have a question that if Rohit was given the Bangalore team, which is there with Kohli, would he have won two, three or four out of the five titles Mumbai have won?” Aakash Chopra said.
“Rohit as a captain is outstanding, I love him to bits but can the Mumbai Indians’ success story be equated with India, that is my question. Just because Kohli’s team does not do well, does it mean that is Kohli’s fault,” he added.
Earlier after Mumbai claimed the fifth IPL title on Tuesday, Gautam Gambhir had compared the records of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as leaders of their respective franchises and stated that the Mumbai skipper should lead Team India in the shortest format of the game 'without question'. He stated that Rohit 'knows exactly how to win games' and the change would unburden Virat Kohli as well. Moreover, Gambhir also criticised Kohli for Bangalore's repeated failures.
"Tell me any other captain - forget about captain - tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn't have won the title and would have still continued with it. So it has to be accountability. A captain needs to take accountability," Gambhir had said.
23:00 IST, November 13th 2020