When given the opportunity to bat first at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Rohit Sharma and company scored 438 runs in total. The hosts finished Day 3 with 229/5 after Day 3 was cut short by rain. India still has a lead of 210 with the first innings still going and West Indies need 10 more runs to avoid the follow-on.
In a video posted to his YouTube page, Chopra discussed the third day’s action and commended the Indian bowlers over their tireless efforts. The former Indian opener stated that Kuldeep could have been effective had he been on the team and that Axar Patel must have played the game.
He said, “Mukesh Kumar got his first wicket, which was very good because the first wicket is important. You got disciplined bowling from Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj – everyone. One thing was definitely there that this was not the pitch where you should have probably played three fast bowlers.”
A wrist-spinner can do a better job than a finger-spinner: Aakash Chopra
The former Team India opener said that “India should have played Axar Patel here and if you had a bowler named Kuldeep Yadav in your squad, you could have played him on such pitches. When the pitch is more dead, a wrist-spinner can do a better job than a finger-spinner.”
The third spinner within the Indian Test team, Axar, was not used in either of the contests with the Windies. Kuldeep was only chosen for the white-ball portion of the tour despite having a five-wicket performance against Bangladesh during the last Test he played.
Aakash Chopra emphasised how the West Indies hitters’ defensive strategy had reduced the match to a routine activity and tweeted as well about how dead the wicket was. He said, “You cannot ensure a contest. What we saw in Trinidad is that only one team is trying to win, the other team is trying to play, that they will continue playing and the result be damned. So that is a problem for sure.”
Fans react to former team India opener’s comments on dull second test between India and West Indies:
Flat-dead pitches are the biggest enemy of Test cricket. #WIvInd
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) July 22, 2023
Pakistani giving their opinions like there’s 72720 degree swing in rawalpindi but but full marks for audacity ?
— Who cares? (@Retired__hurt) July 22, 2023
Even if there is a turning track it pain you, as happened in India Australia BGT, and if flat pitch then you need win, then either look at Virat's century, or look at Ashwin's wickets… you can see only one thing. ? @vikrantgupta73 @sports_tak
— Harimohan Meena (@Professor_Meena) July 23, 2023
It's not that flat as India got all out on same pitch where as WI batsmen are playing risk free cricket with strike rate of 17, this match has been boring except Virat's hundred.
— Shubman Gang (@ShubmanGang) July 22, 2023
Dont worry, match might stretch to 5th day but result will come. Appreciate at least Windies are applying well. Indian bowling line up is very average. Without Bumrah and Shami we are getting exposed.
— Jim Moriarty (@moriartyjim100) July 22, 2023
They aren't if teams are adaptable.
Eng used be a team favouring green tops untill 2017-18 which is why Anderson Broad have truckload of wickets in that era & now they have adapted to flat tracks with Bazzball strategy & still winning. IND play 1-D cricket both at home & abroad— Adhi (@Adhi_Dare) July 23, 2023
Sir,a little bit of help for bowlers finishes the game on day 3 and a little bit of help for batters extends a 5 days game to a 7 days game.
Test cricket is not getting down by pitches but its the quality of players and their mentality to play this format had made it irrelevant.— Sudhanshu Bharadwaj (@BHARADW66611985) July 22, 2023
Virat scored a century on the same "flat" track sir. You didn't tweet this at that time. And when Windies are playing well, you got a problem ??
— Tanishq Mishra (@Make_RR_win) July 22, 2023
He said this coz India is struggling to take wickets this time . Warna iske mu mai abi tak dahi jham chuka tha
— Furkan (@tweetsbyfurkan) July 22, 2023
Thank God you realized it after 1 test that India won and 400+ runs in their first innings.
— Ishtiaque Ahmed (@Ishtiaq64682807) July 22, 2023
