Cricket analyst Aakash Chopra wasn’t much impressed with Rohit Sharma’s captaincy despite the Indian cricket team’s 5-wicket win over New Zealand in the first T20I of the ongoing three-match T20I series on Wednesday (November 17) in Jaipur.
He was “befuddled” by Rohit’s “rare error” during the first T20I and questioned Venkatesh Iyer’s inclusion in the playing XI against New Zealand. Iyer made his India debut in Jaipur on Wednesday.
Chopra further pointed out that Iyer was picked in India’s playing XI as a fast-bowling all-rounder, but Rohit didn't get him to bowl in the match, which left Chopra a little befuddled and called it a captaincy error. Notably, Iyer could face only 2 balls for 4 runs in the match.
Chopra said on his YouTube channel: “The Indian team said they need a fast-bowling all-rounder, so they played Venkatesh Iyer at six. But they didn't get him to bowl. I will say it's a rare error on Rohit Sharma's part, generally, his captaincy is perfect, but it just left me a little befuddled.”
Explaining how Rohit could have used Iyer's services with the ball, the cricketer-turned-commentator said that the Indian skipper could have sent the all-rounder to bowl an over or two when Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Siraj were struggling.
He signed off by saying, “They could have got him to bowl, when you had won the toss and got to bowl first and the opposing team was struggling, especially in the first half. You could have got him to bowl one or two overs because Deepak Chahar and Siraj were not having a good day.”
