Former India opener Aakash Chopra picked his choices of three top moments for the Indian team in the year 2021 and picked for India T20I captain Virat Kohli hugging Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan after their clash in the T20 World Cup 2021 as one of them.
Pakistan defeated India for the first time in any World Cup match when they crushed the Men in Blue by 10 wickets in Dubai in their tournament opener. Both Rizwan and captain Babar Azam scored unbeaten half-centuries, while Shaheen Afridi picked three top wickets to peg India back, who batted first after losing the toss.
However, the former Indian cricketer picked Virat Kohli's "magnanimous" act during the 2021 T20 World Cup among India's top three moments in the calendar year.
Kane Williamson, Mohammad Rizwan amongst four nominees for 2021 ICC Player of the year
"You might say it is slightly bittersweet or what is good in that. Not good or bad but it defines Indian cricket. Remember the World Cup game we lost to Pakistan. India was totally destroyed and Pakistan won by 10 wickets," he said on his YouTube channel as he began with the third-best moment from the year.
"But after that, if you leave the outside noise aside, the picture that comes to mind is Babar Azam and Rizwan hugging Virat Kohli. That hug told us a lot of things. Kohli and the Indian team would have had a bigger heartbreak than us but what Virat Kohli did was magnanimous," he added.
The second best moment picked by Chopra was India’s win over England at the Lord’s in 2021.
"My second moment is Lord's. India played well in the first innings - Rahul scored a century and Rohit played well. There is a collapse on the second morning and Joe Root hits another century, that too 180. You conceded the first-innings lead," he said.
He added: "In the second innings, India were 55/3 at one stage and Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara were playing to save their places. They have a big partnership but again you are 209/8 and then the amazing partnership between Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. After that, England were bowled out for 120 in just 51 overs."
However, the top spot for the best Team India moment was reserved by Aakash Chopra was for the epic and historic Test win at the Brisbane in Gabba. Victory in this match helped India win their second consecutive Test series in Australia, and that too without many of their first-choice players missing from action.
"At No.1, it has to be Gabba. Our bowling lineup was Mohammed Siraj, T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini and Washington Sundar - what was the chance of India doing well in that game? Australia scored 369 when they batted first. India conceded the lead and were only able to fight because Washi and Shardul scored 62 and 67," Chopra said.
"Australia scored 294 in the second innings. You lost Rohit Sharma early on the final day but after that the counterattack. Shubman Gill hit from one end, Pujara was standing at the other end and was getting hit all over the body but when he got out it seemed the game will be stuck. But Rishabh Pant went on playing and hit the winning runs in the end. It was absolutely sensational," he signed off.
