Amid the reports of Team India stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announcing their retirements from ODIs soon, former cricketer Aakash Chopra feels that the duo retired from the wrong format and should have drawn curtains on the One-Dayers.
While speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “The truth is that they have said goodbye to the wrong format. They had left T20Is after winning the T20 World Cup, but the story might have been different had they continued to play Tests and said goodbye to ODIs. India played only six ODIs in 12 months before the Champions Trophy”.
Days after Shubman Gill-led Team India secured a 2-2 draw in the Test series against England, speculations started surrounding that Virat and Rohit may announce their retirements from ODIs. It is also said that they need to play domestic cricket to prove their match fitness and form.
Both cricketers had announced their Test retirements ahead of India`s tour to England back in May.
Further, Chopra highlighted the gap between the last IPL match and the upcoming first ODI game. He also pressed on the importance of playing Test cricket.
“There is a possibility that you might play only six Tests in a year, but even if it is only six Tests, it`s 30 days of cricket. If only six ODIs are played, it`s just six days of cricket over a period of time. It will be more than 100 days from your last IPL match to the next ODI you will play. You are not playing at all. You are not practicing at all,” he added.
Chopra also pointed out that the gaps between ODI series these days are also “incredibly huge” and it would be difficult to sustain form, fitness, commitment to diet, etc with just a few ODI games.
“A three-match series gets over in seven to eight days. Then the next one would be after three months. Gaps are just incredibly huge, and you won`t play first-class cricket in between. It`s true that had they continued playing Test cricket and left ODIs, staying in the groove would have been a lot easier,” he said.
“When you have retired from Tests, and ODI cricket is not played much, it is not going to make a lot of sense. So just two months of high-intensity IPL, where you would get to play 14 to 16 innings, and then you would play three matches after six months, and then three matches after another three months. I think it is very, very difficult,” Chopra observed.
(With ANI Inputs)
