India’s all-format tour of West Indies came to an end on Sunday (August 13). While India won the Test and ODI series in the Caribbean, they lost the five-match T20I series by a margin of 3-2.  

As a result, the Men in Blue received a lot of flak for conceding the T20I series to the seventh-ranked West Indies side, which recently failed to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.

Skipper Hardik Pandya also came under the scanner for some of his decisions during the T20I series, starting from his use of spinners Akshar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, the under-utilization of pacer Mukesh Kumar and the changes in the batting order.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, former India opener Aakash Chopra raised questions over Hardik’s decision-making.

Chopra finds no “template or pattern” when Hardik leads the Indian team, which is a stark contrast to his leadership in the IPL for Gujarat Titans.

"He has captained in only two seasons and captained amazingly well in both years. When he captains that side, there is a clear pattern. It's all almost predictable. You got surprised one or two times but other than that, you couldn't have found a mistake in his captaincy. Maybe it was the combo pack of him and Ashish Nehra,” Chopra said.

“However, when he is captaining the Indian team, there is a lot of up and down. There is no template or pattern, which is alright as you can surprise the opposition team. It's okay if your own team is getting benefitted because of that but what if your team's players are unable to get prepared?” he added.

Aakash Chopra also cited examples from the West Indies T20I series to back his claim.

“Yuzi (Yuzvendra) Chahal becomes half the bowler while bowling in the powerplay. You don't come to know whether Akshar Patel is a bowler or batter, or what he is doing. Mukesh Kumar bowls only at the death. You bowl at times with the new ball and don't do that on other occasions. It just leads to a bit more confusion is what I feel,” he remarked.