Shikhar Dhawan was earlier named captain for the Zimbabwe tour.
Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator, Aakash Chopra, became the latest person to express his displeasure over the BCCI’s decision to replace Shikhar Dhawan with KL Rahul as India captain for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, starting on August 18.
Earlier, Dhawan was made captain for the Zimbabwe tour, but once Rahul was declared fit, the BCCI named him captain and demoted the senior cricketer as vice-captain — the move didn’t go down well with many, as it was deemed unfair to the opener.
Reacting to the matter, Chopra said that Dhawan should not have been demoted, and Rahul could play purely as a batter, as he felt the BCCI should not have made this sudden decision.
Aakash Chopra said in a video posted on his official YouTube channel: “If it was in my hands, I would have avoided that," Chopra said on Rahul replacing Dhawan as the captain on the tour. “He (Rahul) was originally not named in the squad for the Zimbabwe series.”
He continued, “I understand he is the vice-captain for the Asia Cup but there is another truth that currently there are 8-10 captains in the team. Rishabh Pant is captain, Hardik Pandya is captain, I do not think Suryakumar is far away from captaincy. Rohit Sharma is the captain, and Virat Kohli has been the captain before. It was not important, this thing could have been avoided.”
Chopra signed by saying, “Shikhar Dhawan is a senior guy, how does it matter that if he is the captain? KL Rahul can play purely as a batter, it does not matter if he is the captain or not. You could have carried on with it, if you had announced Shikhar Dhawan as captain, you could have let it be. In my opinion, Dhawan should have stayed as the captain.”