IND vs AUS 2023, Venkatesh Prashad vs Aakash Chopra: In the ongoing 4-match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India has defeated Australia in the first two matches. In both these matches, India defeated Australia very easily in just two and a half days. In such a situation, it is obvious that many players from India must have performed brilliantly, but so far the worst thing for the Indian team in this series has been the bad form of KL Rahul. However, KL Rahul was going through bad form even before this series.
KL Rahul’s form is bad in this series. He scored only 18 runs in both the innings of the Delhi Test match, while he scored only 20 runs in the Nagpur Test match as well. This means that in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, KL has so far scored only 38 runs in 3 innings of 2 matches. Due to this form of KL, two former cricketers of India have now clashed. On one side is India’s former fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad, and on the other side is former batsman Akash Chopra.
Debate due to KL Rahul’s form
On February 18, Venktesh Prasad made several tweets one after the other about KL Rahul’s bad form. The former fast bowler first wrote that, “I have a lot of respect for KL Rahul’s ability and potential, but it is sad to say that his performance has been very poor. After spending more than 8 years in international cricket, 46 To average just 34 in Test matches is a very normal performance.”
Further, Venkatesh Prasad wrote that talented players are not getting a chance to join the playing XI. Shikhar averaged 40 in Tests and Mayank had 41+, including two double centuries. Shubmal Gill is running in excellent form. Sarfaraz Khan is also scoring centuries in first class cricket and there are many players who deserve to get a chance before KL Rahul.
Prasad further said that his presence in the team shakes people’s faith in justice. Shivsundar Das and Sadagopan Ramesh also had a lot of talent, both averaged more than 38, but still did not get a chance to play more than 23 Test matches. Rahul’s continuous presence in the team gives the message that there is a dearth of good batsmen in India, which is not correct. His average is less than 27 in 47 innings of the last five years.
This former India match-winner player said that, according to me, he is not one of the 10 best opener batsmen of India at the moment. Players like Kuldeep Yadav have to drop in the next match even after performing man of the match. KL Rahul is by no means a match-winner for India at the moment.
Akash Chopra replied
Akash Chopra has given the answer to this continuous Twitter attacks of Venkatesh Prasad. Akash Chopra first targeted Venkatesh on his YouTube channel and then the debate started between the two on Twitter as well. While talking on his YouTube channel, Akash said, “As soon as KL Rahul gets out on a short run, , he starts trending on Twitter. Everyone wants to give their opinion and criticize him.” Further, Akash said, “I think Venkatesh Prasad’s tweet has added fuel to the fire. He is a former cricketer, he should know that we should not criticize any cricketer in the middle of a game.” Should be done and while there is still an innings to go. After the game you can definitely have your opinion about any player.”
After this, Akash Chopra also replied to Venkatesh Prasad’s tweet and said, Venky Bhai, Test match is going on, how about if you at least let both innings end, we all belong to one team i.e. India. I am not asking you to withdraw your opinion. But its timing could have been better, after all, our game is all about ‘timing’.
Responding to this tweet of Akash, Venkatesh Prasad said,
To be honest, it doesn’t matter, Akash. According to me, even if he scores a half-century in the second innings, it is a fair criticism. There is no point between the match and after the match. Best wishes for your lovely videos on youtube. I enjoy them.
After this, on 19 February i.e. today, Venkatesh said in another tweet that, some people are thinking that I have some personal enmity with KL Rahul. In fact, it is quite the opposite in fact. I wish him the best, and being in this kind of form will never lift his confidence. Now the domestic season is also over.
The former India bowler said that, like Pujara, KL Rahul needs to score runs by playing county cricket in England and cement his place back in the team. The best answer would be for him to do everything possible to play Test cricket for the country and get back in form. But will it be possible for him to leave IPL?