"Asli BGT to aap aur Aakash Chopra khel rahe ho"- Fans divided over Venkatesh Prasad's verbal duel with former opener

Former Indian cricketers Aakash Chopra and Venkatesh Prasad have been involved in a war of words on social media over their contrasting opinions about the out-of-form KL Rahul.

Prasad has time and time again expressed displeasure over the Indian team management giving Rahul a long rope despite his repeated failures. Chopra, however, doesn't seem to echo the same sentiments and has even called out Prasad for sharing incomplete stats to suit his 'agenda'.

Reacting to the same, Prasad posted multiple tweets on his Twitter handle on Tuesday, February 21. The former fast bowler accused Chopra of misquoting him. He also shared the cricketer-turned-commentator's tweet from 2012, wherein he asked for Rohit Sharma to be dropped from the Test team.

Prasad clarified that he doesn't have any personal agenda against Rahul, but is against the unfair selection policy, highlighting how players like Sarfaraz Ahmed and Kuldeep Yadav haven't been given enough chances even after performing well consistently.

Here are the tweets posted by Venkatesh Prasad:

A number of cricket fans have also reacted to the drama. While some sided with Prasad, a certain section of fans questioned him for blowing the matter out of proportion by posting multiple tweets.

Here are some of the reactions on Twitter:

Notably, KL Rahul has received widespread criticism for his ongoing lean patch. The right-handed batter has been disappointing in the ongoing four-match Test series against Australia so far, mustering just 38 runs from three innings.

Following his string of poor performances, Rahul was also removed as the vice-captain of the Indian Test team. This could be an indication that he might fail to find a place in the playing XI for the remaining two fixtures of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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"There is no bitterness between us" - Venkatesh Prasad on Aakash Chopra

Venkatesh Prasad further added that he admires the hard work Aakash Chopra puts into his YouTube channel, and clarified that there isn't any bitterness between them.

He mentioned that he took to social media to explain his stance on the issue only because Chopra had called him out in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

Venkatesh Prasad wrote on Twitter:

"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."

Meanwhile, following India's victory in the second Test, captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid stated that the team management would continue to support Rahul. It remains to be seen if the batter will still be picked for the upcoming third Test.