Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has rated the Indian players’ performance in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand in his latest YouTube video. India’s most dependable batsman Cheteshwar Pujara scored the lowest points in the ratings among batsman and Jasprit Bumrah scored the lowest point among bowlers.
India lost to New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship final at Ageas Bowl Southampton. The Blackcaps won the match by 8 wickets. Team New Zealand completely outperformed India in all three aspects of the game to lift the prestigious Test Mace.
Aakash Chopra gave 6 out of 10 to Star opener Rohit Sharma which is the highest amongst all 6 Indian batsmen. He elaborated:
“I will give Rohit 6/10. He got starts in both innings. I will say the glass is half full because Rohit saw off the new ball in both innings, the most difficult thing in SENA countries. He was opening for the first time in Test cricket in England, do not ever underestimate what Rohit Sharma has done.”
Rohit Sharma’s partner Shubman Gill got 4 marks for his decent batting in the first inning and the brilliant catch of Ross Taylor. Aakash Chopra said:
“Shubman Gill helped Rohit Sharma in the first innings but got out early in the second innings. Just 4/10, I was thinking 3 or 3.5 but four because he took a good catch of Ross Taylor diving to his right.”
Aakash Chopra was disappointed with Pujara and pinpointed that Cheteshwar Pujara was unable to match the expectations and rated him the lowest point which was just 20%.
“Cheteshwar Pujara, one he dropped a catch in the slips, not that it would have made a difference to the match. With his batting in both innings, you expect more runs from Cheteshwar. In this game, I am going 2/10,” said Aakash.
Skipper Virat Kohli got 5 out of 10 from Aakash Chopra because he batted very well in the first innings but in the second innings he failed, comparing him with Kane Williamson he said Kane did a better job than Kohli.
“Virat Kohli 5/10 for the simple reason that the first innings was good but more was expected from him in the second innings. You will compare Kohli with Kane, and Kane did the job in both innings,” Aakash Chopra said.
Test Vice Captain Ajinkya Rahane got the same score as his captain, Rahane was the top scorer for the team in the first innings, explaining about him Aakash Chopra said:
“Ajinkya Rahane did score 49 runs in the first innings. He got out playing a bad shot. You can say that he was unfortunate in the second innings but he never looked comfortable. I have given him 5/10.”
Rishabh Pant was also in the same boat as his captain and vice-captain and got 50% from the cricketer-turned commentator. Pant was a hot topic of discussion for his carefree shot in the second innings. He was also the highest run-scorer for the team in the second innings. He said:
“Pant is also 5/10. He scored 41 runs in the 2nd innings but the most promising student is also going to get scolded. The way he got out, the careless and carefree debate will always be there. I was expecting more from Pant.”
Rishabh Pant goes for 41, a terrific knock ended with an unnecessary shot. He's playing well, but the aggressive approach got the better of him. That shot wasn't needed at all, but nevertheless a tremendous fightback from Pant. pic.twitter.com/0GAW7rwyv3
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 23, 2021
Aakash Chopra rates for the Indian bowlers
Ravindra Jadeja got 30% from Chopra as he failed to impress everybody with his performance in the WTC final against New Zealand. Senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin got 60% for his 2 wickets each in both the innings and 21 runs in the first innings.
“Jadeja 3/10. You are batting at No.7. There was more expectation from your batting in both innings, more so in the 2nd innings. You took one wicket while bowling, there was more expectation of wickets as well in the second innings,” Aakash Chopra said.
“Ravichandran Ashwin 6/10. He did okay with the ball. He broke the opening partnership in the first innings, took two wickets in the second innings, the two wickets we got. He scored 21 runs in the 1st innings but played a bad shot in the 2nd innings,” he added.
Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma earned praise from Aakash Chopra for their sensational spells in the WTC final. He addressed:
“Shami gets 7/10. Shami bowled well, he was the one to bring you back in the match. He took four wickets and in a good fashion. Ishant Sharma gets 6/10. I expected more from him in the 2nd innings, I thought he was phenomenal in the first innings.”
Congratulations New Zealand on becoming the inaugural ICC Test Champions.
For India not scoring atleast 300 in the first innings and the form of Jasprit Bumrah were a big factor. #IndvNZ pic.twitter.com/QAROCc5pdU— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) June 23, 2021
Jasprit Bumrah’s disappointing performance earned him 30% marks from Aakash Chopra. He went wicketless in both innings and this was a second successive match where Bumrah has failed to pick a wicket.
“Bumrah is just 3/10. There was a catch dropped off his bowling in the 2nd innings but nothing like that happened in the first innings. Jasprit Bumrah going wicketless in a Test match, it doesn’t happen very often but it happened in this match,” Aakash Chopra concluded.