Former India fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad slammed Aakash Chopra for misquoting him on his YouTube show regarding KL Rahul. The ex-opener had alleged that Prasad seems to have a personal agenda against out-of-form Rahul. The 51-year-old cricketer took to Twitter to confront and respond to the claim by Chopra on Tuesday.
Notably, Prasad has been very vocal about Rahul’s poor run and repeatedly demanded his removal from the Test team. A few days back, he even shared the stats of the 30-year-old Karnataka cricketer and alleged ‘favouritism’ in the Indian team.
Reacting to Prasad’s severe criticism, in a video titled ‘How Bad is KL Rahul’s Test form?”, Chopra disapproved of the right-arm bowler’s viewpoint and backed Rahul instead. He even said that a player shouldn’t be criticized during a match.
Soon after the allegations, Prasad laced into Chopra, terming his video ‘vile’ and even shared a screenshot of an old tweet by the latter about Rohit Sharma in 2012.
“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,” said Prasad.
“have nothing against KL or any other player, my voice has been against unfair selection and different yardsticks for performers. Be it Sarfaraz or Kuldeep, have voiced based on merit. But it was disappointing to see Aakash calling it personal agenda,” he added.
I have no agenda against any player, maybe there are others who have. Difference of opinion is fine but calling contrary views as apna personal agenda and Twitter par mat laayein is funny for @cricketaakash , considering he has made a great career by airing his views.
I have …— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) February 21, 2023
Sharing Chopra’s tweet from 2012, Prasad further wrote: “This is what Aakash had aired when Rohit was 24 with 4 yrs in international cross. He can use sarcasm for Rohit at 24, and I cannot point out underperforming Rahul at 31 with 8 years in International cricket. Yeh bhi sahi hail (this is also right?).”
This is what Aakash had aired when Rohit was 24 with 4 yrs in international cross. He can use sarcasm for Rohit at 24, and I cannot point out underperforming Rahul at 31 with 8 years in International cricket. Yeh bhi sahi hai pic.twitter.com/caNnrbC5lj
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) February 21, 2023
The former fast bowler also responded to ex-opener’s argument that a player shouldn’t be criticized during a match.
“And the argument that we should not criticize a player in an ongoing match personally doesn’t make sense to me. That doesn’t affect the players performance. Most players don’t read views even after the match and no player can read in between match as phones are deposited,” he tweeted.
“I admire Aakash for the hardwork he puts on his YouTube channel but calling a different view point as agenda because it doesn’t suit his narrative is poor. There is no bitterness between us and since his video was in public domain wanted to put my point out here,” he added.
I admire Aakash for the hardwork he puts on his YouTube channel but calling a different view point as agenda because it doesn’t suit his narrative is poor. There is no bitterness between us and since his video was in public domain wanted to put my point out here. Best wishes
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) February 21, 2023
