Former Indian cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra has now made a sensation claim by stating that the Virat Kohli led Indian team which participated in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 did not have what is needed in a team to lift the trophy.
Notably, the Indian team started off as favourites to lift the Cup and played as per their reputation till they reached the semifinal where they were outdone by a better New Zealand side on the day.
Chopra went on to compare the MS Dhoni-led World Cup-winning side in 2011 to Virat Kohli’s contingent that participated in the 2019 edition.
“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, but let me keep Dhawan ahead just for argument sake,” said Chopra in a video uploaded on his Youtube Channel.
“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, 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 added.
“MS Dhoni of 2011 vs MS Dhoni of 2019, no doubt MSD of 2011. Harbhajan Singh is a match-winner, so is Jadeja, maybe 50-50. Jaddu will get more numbers for fielding, Harbhajan Singh for bowling, Jaddu slightly ahead in batting in international ODI stage. 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.
“So if you see the full comparison, MS Dhoni’s team of 2011 has won. That is why, if there is a match Dhoni’s team is stronger and a match-winning team,” he stated.
“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 concluded.