“I have no agenda against any player”, Venkatesh Prasad reacts as Aakash Chopra blames him for personal agenda against KL Rahul

Unintentionally, KL Rahul’s poor form has set up an internet feud between former India bowler Venkatesh Prasad and former India batter Aakash Chopra.

Words like “vile,” “personal agenda,” and “mobilizing the online mob” have been used, and the overall tone of the competition has been described as “poison.” Although Prasad is spreading his ideas on Twitter, Chopra is responding to him on both that platform and on YouTube.

After Rahul’s first innings collapse in the just-finished second Test match against India in Delhi, Prasad made a point of pointing out his “torrid run” and the “rigidity” of the team’s management.

When Prasad criticized the Indian vice-captain on the second day of a five-day match, Chopra took issue with his “timing.” Chopra went on to say that Prasad, as a former international cricketer himself, should have waited till the match was over before criticizing any players.

Unsurprisingly, Rahul’s second innings performance was no better than his first, extending his streak to 10 straight Test innings without a 25-run total. After being removed from his position as vice-captain, Rahul may not start the next third Test in Indore, which begins on March 1.

Chopra responded to each of Prasad’s tweets on Rahul with a video this morning. Since then, they’ve been trading barbs before pointlessly reiterating their mutual regard and affection.

Chopra said he was providing more accurate and unedited data than Prasad, whom he accused of “lacking context” in his comments. The Twitter thread in which Prasad accused Chopra of misquoting him and refuted him for a post from a decade ago showing Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane was an appropriate reply for the approximately 13-minute-long video.

It’s difficult to choose between them given the recent volume of their tweets. But, replacing Rahul in the lineup for the following game is a breeze.

So my friend Aakash Chopra after making a vile video on YouTube this morning where he calls me an agenda peddle, conveniently and cleverly misquotes me, removes Mayank’s average of 70 at home, wants to gag views which are not in line with what he believes but wanted Rohit out pic.twitter.com/2HwFLMgvmd

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) February 21, 2023

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Both Prasad and Chopra considered Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, and Rahane’s statistics, but Chopra was correct in noting that none of the three is a high priority for the Test team.

Since Dhawan hasn’t played a first-class match in over three years, it seems like his time in the Test cricket arena is finished. Even though Agarwal finished as the Ranji Trophy’s leading run-scorer in 2022–23, he won’t be able to replace Rahul in the third Test unless he is included in the team. Even Rahane had a rather successful Ranji season, but he doesn’t seem to be returning anytime soon.

Thus, instead of Rahul at the Holkar Stadium, why not try the hot bat of Shubman Gill? One can only hope that the Indian team management makes this decision based only on “present form,” and not potential, past performance, or records in domestic or international competition, or performance in SENA, etc.

But, even Indian team management in the previous years has been shown to be inconsistent in their assertions on several instances. While both captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid publicly supported Rahul after the last match, this does not prove that they are right to do so.