Congrats Aakash. Excellent knock. But i dont think the Indian selectors will ever open their eyes. They are only good at spoiling the careers of great openers like you, Das, Ramesh etc. Keep blogging Brave Man and all the best for the season.

Always a pleasure reading your column. You talked about Nehra and Nanda, but didn't mention Ishant. How did he bowl? He didn't make much of an impact with his bowling, nor was he very economical either.

Akash, It would have been great to read from you, the talent that is coming up in the name of Virat Kohli. This young lad is being watched by a huge crowd of crazies, and we would have loved to read your normally excellent narratives and keen observation; your contribution as above leaves one disappointed for the lack of that attention to Virat Kohli. You have almost brushed it off!!!!

Akash your team has been beaten by the better SNGPL team from Pakistan and it clearly seems a case of sour grapes here. You have blamed everything ranging from weather, wicket etc. But havent acknowledged the SNGPL players rather you have taken a shot At their skill level which is rather surprising.

The batting first in such a greenish track was a suicidal attempt and pakistan's young fast bowlers utilised properly.After getting a lead of 300 runs, your team should have declared the innings, instead you gone far away which is not all a positive thinking.Batting of yours as well as Virat's was excellent particularly akash,your chanceless innings definitely deserved a place back in indian opener. You are far better than Wasim Jaffer who got abundant opportunities to play and utilised minimum.However, it is selector who will make the chance?Best of luck, continue your play

Aakash keep up the good work; I always enjoy these columns. You have made a wonderful start to the season and I am sure you'll cash in as much as possible which I hope you do. As for Mr Mahmud, closer reading is required I must say.

Akash, you are very slow (man o man). When you were selected you used to make me sick, you still the same. Open up, look at brother Gambhir!

aakash, first of all great always to read whatever you write.Your friends birthday week concept sounds like a ganapati visarjan which you celebrate throughout the week and then the final touch ! besides that everything you write is just so gripping.
okay I disagree with Mr. Mahar Patel, here are the figures- 182 runs in 485 minutes and 315 balls 21 fours, what more do you expect?? ...Virat Kohli-197 runs 410 minutes 274 balls 29fours 1 six.So you think that aakash Chopra is slow, well everyone has their own batting style...by the end of the day its the number the matters and not how slow or fast you batted!!get your cricketing sense right...one of India's best batsmen were slow...VVS Laxman for example was so sad to watch...but he is still teh best maybe aakash Chopra fits into the category of a great batsmen who isnt really looked at..You are great to watch aakash.Keep it up.We expect many more runs from you this season.Dont disapoint your fans and please silence your critics.

Hi aakash great going.You are a great batsman and congratulations on the runs you made.you are one of the best openners India has, the selectors should surely keep their mind open and just consider you.Great going , hope you do not get pulled down by the critics through this blog, its just a saying in India every person is a cricket expert, maybe they could walk a mile in your shoes..and then maybe your talent could be and would be realised !!all the best

hey aakash great.the human touch that you add to whatever you write is amazing and makes it very interesting to read.aakash was great to see you score those runs and send out a message to the selectors for not selecting you for the India A matches.Hope the selection committee which is soon going to get revamped, should take a look at your records the runs that you scored and are scoring ! Rock on !

Hey Akash,
One great thing abt u that sets apart from others
is your ability to smile and keep trying inspite of set backs.You should have got more oppurtunities which only the selectors know why
they did not come.
Keep trying!All the best

Rgds,
Jojo

Well done to Delhi for starting off the season with a lot of positives, good luck with the Irani trophy and hope you give us a good article after it.

yeah u played very well but you were very slow ok if you play slow in this format but in 2 overs you should atleast hit two fours or a six so that the crowd is always at their toes that maybe now aakash is going to hit a boundary

yeah u played very well but you were very slow ok if you play slow in this format but in 2 overs you should atleast hit two fours or a six so that the crowd is always at their toes that maybe now aakash is going to hit a boundary

well played aakash! hoping to see u back in the team soon. whats ur view on the forthcoming series vs aus. going to be fun!

Akash, you are the best cricketing writer today so please keep these posts coming.
Can you post on the opportunity ICL offers for quality first class cricketers who are not on the Indian selector's shortlist. As I see it, if a first class cricketer of about 5 years experience is not any near the Indian team, and there is an offer from the ICL (that is higher paying), he owes it to his family to take up on it. Why should a cricketer be held to a arbitrary *loyalty* by the BCCI when we have daily examples like: (1) professionals like this writer leave India for a better paying job or (2) students who finish their government subsidized education in one subject and then take up a job in another field. Why is professional cricket any different?

Hi Aakash, This is a really nice aspect yours which we were not aware of. Cricketers like you and Ajay Jadeja have shown amazing cricketing brain off the field especially in the various news studios. By the way congrats for a great start of the season. You guys really came back strongly after being pegged back by the Pakistani seamers. Both you and Virat played outstanding knocks even with your backs to the wall. It was sad to see the Delhi weather playing a spoilsport, but a good game nevertheless. It was the third season in which the cross-border series has been played. In hindsight, don't you think the Mohammed Nisar Trophy hasn't lived upto its expectations with neither of the respective boards paid much for its cause. There were no broadcasting arrangements made, there were talks of both the teams taking it more as a practice match for the long season ahead. What's more, the players themselves didn't know whether their performance in this match would count for much or not.

You must be so proud Mr Chopra. Delhi has achieved what no other Indian team managed to do so far - lose the Md Nissar Trophy... And you achieved this feat at home... This calls for an extended celebration!

And of course, it is not your fault that you chose to bat on a greenish wicket.. After all, it is not often that you see anything remotely green on the Kotla, and I am sure it must have confused the entire Delhi rank and file.. I hope the DDCA has given the curator his marching orders.

And it is indeed heartening to see Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma, international bowlers both, bowling their heart out.. So much so that the Sui team managed to move from 143/6 at the end of the first day to 266 all out - imagine the last 4 wickets putting on 123 runs - the effort it must have taken the Delhi bowlers to abet this..

continued...

And finally, it was the blasted weather that halted your victory march - surely it is too much to expect locals from being privy to, or having knowledge of the weather patterns in their city.

I conclude by saying this, they are happy hookers, they may not have the skills to match their aggression, Delhi bowlers bowled their heart out, you controlled the game over two days - and yet they took home the trophy and left you clutching at straws..

Denial Is Not a River in Egypt!

Cheers,

Hi,Akash bro! Well done boY!! ..Hopefuly dat u wl play more knocks in upcoming season like u did in d season opener...Cum on AKASH CHOPRA nd DELHI beat d rest of indians...Cz in dat team some old'Z r realy rest of indianZ..Gud luck Akash chopra bro!!!

yup i agree with Mr Haider that their was another team on the field better than yours... and the fact that u failed in the first innings alongwith viru and virat... the paksitani pacers made u fail, its a saying in test cricket that to win a test match, u have to win the most important session, and it was the first session on which u lost the game, with test capped players in your side and the overhead conditions, u should have bowled first, also with the deep batting line up, with 4 of them being a member of their national, u should have atleast stopped a hatrick or either survived a day but you have to admit in the end...PAKI PACERS WERE BETTER THAN YOUR NATIONALLY CAPPED PLAYERS REGARD OF WEATHER AND PITCH

yup i agree with Mr Haider that their was another team on the field better than yours... and the fact that u failed in the first innings alongwith viru and virat... the paksitani pacers made u fail, its a saying in test cricket that to win a test match, u have to win the most important session, and it was the first session on which u lost the game, with test capped players in your side and the overhead conditions, u should have bowled first, also with the deep batting line up, with 4 of them being a member of their national, u should have atleast stopped a hatrick or either survived a day but you have to admit in the end...PAKI PACERS WERE BETTER THAN YOUR NATIONALLY CAPPED PLAYERS REGARD OF WEATHER AND PITCH

yup i agree with Mr Haider that their was another team on the field better than yours... and

the fact that u failed in the first innings alongwith viru and virat... the paksitani pacers

made u fail, its a saying in test cricket that to win a test match, u have to win the most

important session, and it was the first session on which u lost the game, with test capped

players in your side and the overhead conditions, u should have bowled first, also with the

deep batting line up, with 4 of them being a member of their national, u should have atleast

stopped a hatrick or either survived a day but you have to admit in the end...PAKI PACERS

WERE BETTER THAN YOUR NATIONALLY CAPPED PLAYERS REGARD OF WEATHER AND PITCH

hi aakash great blog and well played if you could update us on the other matches that you are going to play in Delhi maybe we all could come accross and watch you in action, you are one of the cutest cricketers in the Delhi side and have a great smile.Besides your ability to create magic on the field you have proved yourself off it too..wishing you a great career ahead.Hope the selectors realise your true potential and give you a chance in the national team.andmaybe just like the latest flick you cant mess with Zohan you can rightly say-You cant mess with aakash but for that you need the runs and the right attitude !

regards

Manasi sehdev

Rizwan and Haider,

Go get a life. As Akash accurately said, pakistani players' skill to back up their "aggression" is questionable. Also questionable is the ability of the two of you to reason! Test/first class matches are not about one session. It's all about maintaining consistency over a period of 4/5 days. An odd good session might give you a thoroughly UNDESERVED victory in such rain curtailed matches. But the difference in class between the two team was there for all to see. Admit it, rain saved you guys. Delhi is way superior to you folks.

Hi, Akash Chopra,
I usually never write comments nor do I have time for those kinds of things. But I must write this one. I SIMPLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW SELECTORS DO NOT FIND A PLACE FOR YOU IN TEST XI. I am sorry, but the selectors greatly dissapoint me. Indeed, Shewag and you are the 2 openers I would select for tests. I am aware that Gautam Gambir is in top form. But he needs to go at number 3. Then comes Dravid, Yuvraj, Badrinath, Dhoni. Followed by 2 fast bowlers (Zaheer and Sreeshanth if fit) and 2 spinners. I will drop Ganguly, Laxman, Kumble, and for gods sake Tendulkar. These are all great players, but past their prime and are too selfish these days. Time to retire them with greatest respect. But You Akash deserve a chance. So does Badrinath. Both of you have berformed so outstandingly, you both deserve a break. I hope Srikanth (new chairman of selectors?) shows some vision and lots of guts (like his batting) that Vengsarkar lacked totally. Prasad

Aakash, Belated greetings on your B'day! Good summary overall. However, Kotla is your homeground and your team should be better to understand conditions and have necessary skills to play there. While visiting team from across the border may have un-skilled penchant to hook short balls, you failed to sportingly analyze the weaknesses of your players who were bundled out in paultry 134 on homeground! I wish you very best; however, it seems Virat has better temperament and skills to be competitive in larger arena and for you it may be too little too late. Sorry! Use B'day to make new resolution to develop appropriate skills to get in national team. You can do it! Good luck!

Nice article, Aakash. The pakistani team would have been thrashed mercilessly if not for the rains. I really liked the rear-guard action from you and Kohli in the second innings. Imran was put in his place in the second innings.
I dont know if Nehra can sustain this over the season. I doubt if he has ever done it.

"Not a damaging loss" was the title of your article. Don't get me wrong I'm a young person who has absolutely no anti Pakistan sentiments because I don't have the emotional baggage that a lot of other people have. At the same time though I pine for the days when a loss to Pakistan was the ultimate shame. Then it was perhaps because of India and Pakistan history but for me it's because they're our neighbours and are similar to us. For the first time in its three year life the Pakistanis got the Mohammad Nissar trophy, and really, well done to them. But I guess I question the attitude, did you really do everything you possibly could to make sure that India held onto the trophy? Did you work beyond yourself to ensure that the Pakistanis didn't win? I wish that we could have that mentality again while playing them in cricket.

Aakash,

I really like reading your blogs. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about your batting. Watching you play for India, I observed that your only shot , especially against the new ball, was the edge to third man! Your batting wasn't the most exciting to watch, either in terms of strokeplay (Like Tendulkar) or purity (like Dravid). Hope you've increased your range on shots since then. Good luck for the future!

Looking at domestic circle, Akash is a one of the best player. He deserve a recall as excellent fielder and good opening batsman. Dravid, Ganguly and Lakshman do not have consistency any more. They served India well. Jaffer failed after fair chances. Parthiv and Karthik look more like India A openers. Viru, Gambhir, Akash and Virat all four deserved to be in Indian test team. Real tough choice for selectors next time. Wish you good luck for next selection, Akash. Please don’t even think about ICL.

Not sure if you read these comments, but I was at the Kotla on the second day. Just to correct misconceptions, the majority of the 'crowd' was quite appreciative of your batting. But its the loudmouths that get noticed. As you walked off at stumps, it was very nice to see the way you thanked the bunch of people who were hanging off the fences to say 'well played akash bhai'. It was a very nice gesture from you to acknowledge them. People who come to these games are of two types: vela or very passionate.

I don't understand the thinking of a few of those commenting on this article. Delhi played better over the course of the four days. They only "lost" on the basis of an arbitrary rule. The match, in reality, was a draw.

I also don't understand the idea that batsmen are too "slow." In first-class/test matches, there is generally no such thing. Making runs is all that matters. While there may be some situations where runs need to made quickly, accumulation is usually the only thing that matters. If you don't like it, go watch that 20/20 rubbish and leave the rest of us to enjoy real cricket.

I may also point out to Rizwan that those great Pakistan pacers you mention also conceded 516 for 4 in the second innings. Not that it matters, Pakistan won't be playing much international cricket in the near future. Not at home anyway.

Hello Akash, interesting article. The fact that you and your Delhi batting line-up failed miserably in the first innings has gone almost unnoticed in your entire blog. Instead, you've taken shots at Pakistani bats for 'not having enough skill to match their aggression'. Akash, at the end they still scored a sizable lead over your first innings score. By the time you got a chance to bat again, the pitch was as flat as a carrom board. You & Virat easily scored runs, as would any half-decent batsman on this pitch. Regardless, your team lost, yet you sing praises for your bowlers and talk about the lack of skill in Pakistani batsman. Perhaps, you should have concentrated this article on on your own team's deficiencies & its ultimate failure in this match.

Aakash, what's the theory behind Viru ? He scores only in international matches & only against good teams. You bring Bangladesh on & he will get out below 10. You bring Australia on & he will score a century. I have never seen him playing a good knock in domestic circuit for over 2 years. But somehow he manages to play incredible innings in test cricket. In my book, Virender Sehwag is the best ever test batsman India has produced because no one has won more matches single handedly than Sehwag has won in a relatively short career of 55 matches.

hi. Rizwan and haider i would like to say although we lost the game but we were the far better side. remember class is permanent. and delhi batsmen showed their class in second innings. any bowler can make use of the pitach and conditions if its a green top. it wasn't only delhi's batsmen who put up bad showing in first innings pakis didn't batted well either.but in second innings when akash and kohli were hitting shots at thier will, pak bowlers were just clueless, they pitched it up so often which was not neccessary. its just weather who defeated delhi not the pakis. on 3rd day it was clear from their body language that they had lost the match already when akash n kohli were mouling there attack. come on accept the truth.

Good one Akash, great to see you still notching up big hundreds, that too patiently built brick-by-brick. India certainly have failed to utilise your services to the maximum. In addition to your stony batting, what they miss is your electric fielding and your wonderful reflexes close-in. We do drop too many catches without a specialist fieldsman there, like you. Thanks anyway for your services, especially in Aus 2003-04 and Pak 2004. Hats off!

hii akash bhai im myself a cricketer in delhi so i can relate to u a bit better then others..anywaz it waz an amazing innings that u played itz incredible how u have so much of paticne and so please help me in knowing the secret i mean test cricket is all about patience and i honstly believe that u must play for india hopefully u will very soon and dont forget me to tell the secret please akash bhai i also want to playfor the country

hii akash bhai im myself a cricketer in delhi so i can relate to u a bit better then others..anywaz it waz an amazing innings that u played itz incredible how u have so much of paticne and so please help me in knowing the secret i mean test cricket is all about patience and i honstly believe that u must play for india hopefully u will very soon and dont forget me to tell the secret please akash bhai i also want to playfor the country

hai aakash
whether slow or otherwise yours was a great Knock indeed. never mind missing on the national side. These days every single match played by an indian is followed closly. my wishes for the future

I can never forget your knock against Danniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey and company at Mohali in 2003. That match was a wake up call for the Indians before the tour of Australia, where we achieved the unthinkable (a drawn series 1-1). Had it not been for you and Laxman, we would have lost the match to the Kiwis and a series for the first time at home against the 'Black Caps'. I feel like 'taking a jump' after watching India lose a test match at home. New Zealand, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan are definitely not the teams to whom India should lose at home. In fact given our stature we should not lose test matches at home. People like you, Dravid and Laxman are ideal foils for Tendulkar, Sehwag, Ganguly, Gambhir and Dhoni. If Ganguly is out of the team, you stand a chance to make a comeback, make the most of it. Do not be averse to bat at number 6 in the Indian team. We need grafters in the Indian team.

The rain proved to be a spoilsport. But then, with the conditions easing out so much in the favour of the batsmen, do you think you would have been able to bowl out SNGPL?

When I last saw Chetnya Nanda on TV last year he seemed innocuous. Good to know that he has made good progress.

hey akash,be a man.owe up to the loss and don't complain saying the toss was vital.it was overcast conditions and that the game was not so important.it's a first class game and a season opener and more so playing our friendly neighbour(pun intended).how can it not be important.you have played enough cricket to undrestand that every first class game is important.be gracious enough to accept defeat and that the pakistani boys came and beat you'll at your home turf.get back to reality.and why do we care about what a birthday week is.couldn't be bothered.we read your blog to know more about cricket and not your friend or some birthday week.hope you guys do something better in the irani game and play and behave like sportsman.don't winge like a girl.grow up be a man

First of all, congrats on scoring a big ton in the match. I've noticed you blamed your teams first innings failure with the bat on the over cast skies, fading light and the green pitch etc. Theres very little credit given to the bowler who got the hattrick & bundled your side out for 133.

A lot of people here are saying Delhi was the better team, but in my opinion, any team who scores less than 150 in their first innings of a 4-5 day match doesnt deserve to win. This match would've ended in a tame draw. SGNPL bowled better than Delhi and batted better than Delhi in the first innings, as for the second innings, Delhi batted well on a flattened pitch and SGNPL never got a chance to bat. Therefore, the winner is clearly the team from Pakistan.

Josh, Im glad you find happiness in pointing out the fact that there wont be much cricket played in Pakistan. That is a loss for cricket, and any passionate fan would know that.

Good Luck for the future Akash!

May be you want to talk to Samaraweera on how he changed his pace. I too used to bat the way you do.

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