Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra expressed his frustration with the decision to declare India's second innings early in the first Test against Bangladesh. Chopra felt that star batsman KL Rahul was not given enough time to bat and gain valuable match practice. India had already established a significant lead, with contributions from Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the first innings, and then bowling out Bangladesh for a low score. In their second innings, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant both scored centuries, and India declared at 287/4. This set a challenging target of 515 runs for Bangladesh, which seemed unlikely to be achievable.
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India's early declaration on Day 3 draws criticism
India's decision to declare their second innings early on Day 3 drew criticism from cricket experts. They argued that the team should have allowed the batsmen more time to bat, especially considering the ample time remaining in the match. KL Rahul, in particular, was seen as a player who needed more game time. Rahul, who had struggled in the first innings, scoring just 16 runs off 52 balls, looked more confident in the second innings, hitting 22 runs off 19 balls. However, the decision to declare cut short his innings, leaving him with a sense of disappointment. Chopra also joined the chorus and expressed his disapproval on India's early declaration. Chopra emphasised that Rahul had every reason to feel disappointed with the Gautam Gambhir-led India's team management's choice, as it deprived him of the opportunity to play a significant innings.
"Aapne inse open bhi karai, aapne middle order mein bhi karaya. Ab lower-order mein bhej diya aur batting ka mauka mila toh aapne unko poora samay nahi diya. Agar wo is baat se nakhush ho toh woh hone bhi chaiye jaise mai aur aap (Saba Karim) hai," he said on air while doing commentary for the first Test between India and Bangladesh. (You made him open the innings and then asked him to become a middle-order batsman. Then, you pushed him in the lower order and when it was his turn to bat, you didn't give him enough time. If he is unhappy with the decision of declaration, he should be just like me and Saba Karim.)"
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Chopra later shared a post on X, criticizing India's decision to not enforce the follow-on. He pointed out that while the team aimed to provide batting practice, they denied KL Rahul the opportunity to play a longer innings.
“Might be a slightly unpopular but here it is anyway— India had the option of enforcing the follow-on but it chose not to…because it was worth giving the batters another go. After all, it’s the first test of a long Test season,” Chopra wrote on X.
"India had the option to allow Rahul (who was looking very good) to fill his boots too. But they chose not to. If runs were important for the first 5 batters, why wasn’t it the case for a pure batter batting at 6? #IndvBan," his post further read.
Aakash Chopra bluntly criticises poor treatment of KL Rahul
Aakash Chopra continued his criticism of KL Rahul's treatment by the Indian team management in a video posted on his official YouTube channel. Chopra argued that while other batsmen were given ample time to bat in the second innings, Rahul was unfairly denied the opportunity.
Chopra expressed his concern that Rahul would face immense pressure in the second Test against Bangladesh. He emphasized that this pressure could have been mitigated if Rahul had been allowed to bat for a longer period in the first Test. Chopra stated:
"What are you doing with KL Rahul? There's plenty of time left in this match. There's no chance of rain either. You pushed him down the order. He didn't score runs in the first innings. You've time for everyone, but when it was his turn, you said times up. He was playing well but you declared.
"You may call me a KL Rahul fan and say I'm biased, but the truth is there was no hurry as two days are left. You should've allowed him to score 60-70 runs. When he reaches Kanpur, he will play but will be under pressure because Monkey is not off the back."
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