"Only 1 thing hurt me a lot" - Aakash Chopra on a politician's recent comments about Rohit Sharma amid 2025 Champions Trophy

Former India player Aakash Chopra has expressed hurt about a politician's recent comments regarding Rohit Sharma's captaincy amid the ongoing 2025 Champions Trophy. He questioned what criterion was used to dub the Indian skipper 'the most unimpressive captain'.

India beat Australia by four wickets in the first semi-final in Dubai on Tuesday (March 4) to reach the 2025 Champions Trophy final, their third consecutive entry into the summit clash of an ICC white-ball event under Rohit's captaincy. In a social media post after India's group-stage win against New Zealand, Shama Mohamed, a politician, had claimed that Rohit was fat for a sportsman and the most unimpressive captain India have ever had.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener noted that the politician's comments about Rohit's captaincy were hurtful.

"I read a statement from Shama Mohamed ji. She probably deleted that tweet as well. So I could only see a screenshot. I hope I saw the right one, where she was saying something about Rohit. Only one thing hurt me a lot and that was - 'the most unimpressive captain for India' or whatever," he said (13:40).

Chopra cited Arjuna Ranatunga's example to question the basis used to label Rohit an 'unimpressive captain'.

"I said, really? How do you define whether someone is a good or an impressive captain or not, whether he is a game-changing captain and is inspiring a generation or not? Arjuna Ranatunga was the cult figure of Sri Lanka. He changed the face of Sri Lankan cricket. He lifted the trophy in 1996," he observed.

Aakash Chopra pointed out that Arjuna Ranatunga got Romesh Kaluwitharana and Sanath Jayasuriya to open in the 1996 ODI World Cup. He added that it was an out-of-the-box move by an inspirational leader that helped Sri Lanka lift the trophy.

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"You will judge him by his impact" - Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma's exceptional record as India's white-ball captain

Rohit Sharma has adopted an ultra-aggressive batting approach since India's exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that Rohit Sharma changed India's white-ball approach after their semi-final loss in the 2022 T20 World Cup.

"Now listen to this. We lost in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final under Rohit Sharma's captaincy. There we realized that we didn't play well, that we said something before going and did something else. After that, he started playing a different brand of cricket. You will judge him by his impact," he said (14:45).

The analyst questioned how a captain who has lost a solitary game in three consecutive ICC white-ball events can be dubbed 'unimpressive'.

"Since then until now, there have been three ICC events - an ODI World Cup, a T20 World Cup, and the Champions Trophy is in progress now. The guy has dropped only one game. Rohit Sharma has lost just one match as a captain. Is that unimpressive as a leader?" Chopra elaborated.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra opined that Rohit Sharma was not 'unimpressive' as no captain in the game's history would have come close to such a record. He added that even Australia and the West Indies didn't enjoy such success in their era of dominance.