Former Indian national cricket team opening batsman Akash Chopra has criticized Shubman Gill’s captaincy in the ongoing second Test of the two-match series against the West Indies national cricket team.
Aakash Chopra was also angry with Shubman Gill for completely ignoring Nitish Kumar Reddy at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and not giving him a chance to roll his arms.
NKR not playing once in over 200 matches for India in Delhi is baffling – Aakash Chopra
In the opening match of the Test series at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India destroyed West Indies to register an innings and 140-run win. Nitish Kumar Reddy was part of the starting XI in the match, but made almost no contribution.
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He bowled four overs in the West Indies’ first innings and none in the second innings, while he was unable to bat in India’s only innings. However, he took a snap decision to bring back Taginarine Chanderpaul.
Speaking in a post-match press conference, India coach Ryan ten Deutscheat said that they wanted to be fair to Nitish Kumar Reddy and give him some time to play in home conditions, and not just test him in away matches.
It was expected that Nitish Kumar Reddy would be allowed to play an important role with both bat and ball in the Delhi Test, but that was not the case. In India’s first innings with the bat, Nitish Kumar Reddy slammed 43 runs, after which, India skipper Shubman Gill completely ignored him.
India bowled 81.5 overs to bundle out West Indies for 248 and then forced a follow-on. The visitors showed improved performance in the innings and scored 390 runs in 118.5 overs. However, in both innings, Nitish Kumar Reddy was not given a chance to bowl, much to the shock of Akash Chopra.
“NKR not bowling a single ball in the 200+ overs India bowled in Delhi is baffling. #IndvWI,” the former India opener wrote on X.
Not once in over 200 India matches have NKR played in Delhi which is baffling. #IndvWI
– Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 13, 2025
To be fair, I’m actually a little disappointed – Aakash Chopra
Speaking on Star Sports, Aakash Chopra said that Shubman Gill’s captaincy on the fourth day of the Delhi Test was very disappointing and he did not launch an all-out attack on the opposition. He said:
“To be fair, I’m a bit disappointed. I was expecting a bit better tactics. If you’re ahead in the game, you want to show that in everything, and I didn’t see that. Attacking doesn’t just happen by playing five bowlers. You had a sixth bowling option, and you didn’t go for it at all. You have an arrow in your quiver, but you didn’t use it at all. So we don’t know if it will be effective or not.”
“For the arrows you have, and the field positions available to them, how can you award singles so easily? I’m a little surprised by this, and personally, I’m a little disappointed as well. In general, one should celebrate when a team wins, and we will all celebrate, but if you want to become the best team in the world, when you win, learn lessons from them, so you can right those mistakes next time.”
Even after Jayden Seales came to bat, we were waiting for him to come out – Aakash Chopra
India reduced West Indies to 311/9, but then Jayden Seales and Justin Greaves put together a thrilling 79-run partnership in 133 balls that brought the visitors back into the game.
This left Aakash Chopra very disappointed when he questioned Shubman Gill’s decision to play the waiting game and let Jayden Seals settle down. And he said:
“Even after Jayden Seals came to bat, we were waiting for him to come out. There is a limit to waiting. You have to do something on your end. It happened several times in this match. As a team, we were seen waiting, let’s see what happens, and that is not good news.”
“This could be an isolated incident where you followed up first and then bowled so much that you got tired. The pitch doesn’t have a lot of bounce and the application is seen in batting. However, in my opinion, you will have to attack a bit more.”
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