"Were people excusing themselves from that too" - Aakash Chopra on the BCCI's new rules for official shoots and functions

Former player Aakash Chopra has questioned whether the Indian cricketers were excusing themselves from official shoots and functions as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made them mandatory. He also termed personal shoots during a series being disallowed an 'interesting' rule.

India suffered a 1-3 loss to Australia in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. After reviewing the series with the Indian think tank comprising Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, and Ajit Agarkar, the BCCI formulated a few rules to be followed by all players.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener reflected on some of those rules. As for the contrasting guidelines for personal and official engagements, he said:

"Personal shoots won't be allowed. Another interesting one as personal engagements are generally kept out during a series. It's obvious everyone does not have that, only a few people have it. You want to create team bonding and foster unity. It's been written like that multiple times in this document." (at 12:00)

"It's been said that you cannot do personal shoots but you need to mandatorily be there for BCCI shoots. Once again there is a question, if you have to go to meet the high commissioner or there is some other shoot, were people excusing themselves from that too, that this had to be written?" Chopra added.

Aakash Chopra was unsure whether players were refusing to do interviews with the broadcasters as well as press conferences and whether that was included within the ambit of official engagements.

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"Why would such a rule have come?" - Aakash Chopra on the guidelines for Team India's practice sessions

All team members are generally a part of mandatory practice sessions. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra wondered why the BCCI had to make a rule for players to be present for the entirety of a practice session.

"You cannot leave early from practice sessions. I am just wondering that practice sessions are just for three to four hours, there too it has been clearly written that players will have to stay there for the entire duration, and no one can pick up their bags and leave after finishing their bowling or batting. Just think about it, why would such a rule have come?" he said.

The cricketer-turned-commentator questioned whether players were leaving early from practice sessions.

"I am as clueless as you are. However, I am being forced to think that if this is being given in writing to the players and they are being told that this is now mandatory, were people actually running away from practice sessions early? It's a very interesting one," Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra wondered why players have also been asked not to run home if the match ends early. While acknowledging that no one would complain if India won the game, he added that it's not ideal if people were booking their tickets when the team was about to lose a game and two batters were fighting in the middle.