India suffered a crushing 6-wicket defeat at the hands of West Indies in the second ODI.
Speaking at the toss, Hardik revealed that skipper Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli have been rested for the game to provide an opportunity for youngsters. Sanju Samson and Akshar Patel replaced Rohit and Kohli in the XI.
However, the move to rest the two senior-most players backfired badly as the Men in Blue suffered a crushing six-wicket defeat after getting bowled out for a paltry 181 in 40.5 overs.
After the game, former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra also questioned India’s decision to rest Rohit and Kohli with nearly two months left for the ODI World Cup.
"You might be wondering why Rohit and Kohli weren't there. Was it because the opposition team collapsed in the last match? The West Indies looked extremely ordinary while batting first, so India thought they won't play their main players, let's experiment a little more. Could that have been the reason?
"If that was the reason, even you could have got out in one match, that your team gets bowled out for 150, like you made 181 now. So should West Indies ask Shai Hope to rest as this Indian team is very weak? That doesn't really cut it in my opinion because the World Cup is not too far," Chopra said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
Aakash Chopra also pointed out that not many games have taken place lately and, thus, resting Rohit and Kohli to manage workload did not make any sense.
"The second point could be that players need rest, that a lot of cricket is happening and workload management is required. The truth is that there was one match in June (the WTC final), two matches in July that lasted seven days, and one ODI match. So you played eight days of cricket overall (in July)," Chopra remarked.
"There is no ODI cricket in the entire August, except the last match of this series, but I am assuming why will you play the last match if you didn't play this one. You didn't bat in the first match in any case. You will straightaway play in the Asia Cup in September. So the workload is not that much if you see it from that angle," he concluded.
The series-deciding third ODI between India and West Indies will be played in Trinidad on Tuesday (August 1).