‘India probably did not have World Cup-winning team in 2019’: Aakash Chopra
“Should we get a slight perspective, if you have not won the World Cup in 2019, probably you didn’t have a World Cup-winning team only. Because the middle-order was so brittle, you didn’t have the team to win,” former India batsman Aakash Chopra said.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra on Monday said that the reason that Virat Kohli-led Indian team could not win the World Cup last year was probably because India did not have a World Cup-winning team. India were pegged to be one of the favourites going into the tournament, but the team crashed out of the semifinal after losing to New Zealand. Chopra derived at the conclusion that the team’s balance was not correct, after he compared India’s 2011 World Cup-winning team with the 2019 team that lost in the semifinal.
Speaking on his Youtube channel ‘Aakash Vani’, Chopra compared the two Indian teams: “If you have to choose between Tendulkar and Rohit, whom will you choose, very tough call. They may just cancel each other out because Rohit has struck 5 centuries in a World Cup edition, which no one has done. Between Rahul/Dhawan and Sehwag, my heart says to keep Sehwag ahead, put let me keep Dhawan ahead just for argument sake.”
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“Between Gambhir and Kohli, no doubt this Kohli of 2019 is definitely ahead of Gambhir of 2011. Although Kohli was there in the 2011 team as well, but there is a lot of difference between that Kohli and this Kohli. Yuvraj Singh is winning this race hands down against Dinesh Karthik/Kedar Jadhav/Pant/Pandya as a batsman, as a bowler, as a full package match-winner,” he added.
“Virat Kohli of 2011, we can keep Pant/DK/Kedhar/MSD ahead of him. Raina is again a match-winner. Whom will you compare with, probably Hardik Pandya. Raina is ahead that time even if you compare him with Kedar,” he went on.
”MSD of 2011 vs MSD of 2019, no doubt MSD of 2011. Harbhajan Singh is a match-winner, so is Jadeja, may be 50-50. Jaddu will get more numbers for fielding, Harbhajan Singh for bowling, Jaddu slightly ahead in batting in international ODI stage,” he further said.
”Let us cancel out Zaheer and Bumrah, they are at par as bowlers almost, both are match-winners. Shami slightly ahead of Munaf. You will have to keep Nehra ahead of Kuldeep or Chahal,” Chopra said.
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“So if you see the full comparison, MSD’s team of 2011 has won. That is why, if there is a match Dhoni’s team is stronger and a match-winning team,” the former India batsman concluded.
Speaking on what was probably wrong in the team combination, the cricketer-turned-commentator added: “Should we get a slight perspective, if you have not won the World Cup in 2019, probably you didn’t have a World Cup-winning team only. Because the middle-order was so brittle, you didn’t have the team to win. You should have played Shami and you didn’t play him. You didn’t prepare the team and Shikhar Dhawan got injured as well.”
“So if you consider everything, 2011 team was lot ahead of this team that played in 2019. Therefore the trophy is with the 2011 team and not the 2019 team,” he signed off.