‘Should we cancel the South Africa tour?’ - Aakash Chopra reacts as Rohit Sharma joins list of injured players

Team India has been jolted with a massive ahead of their upcoming tour of South Africa with Rohit Sharma getting ruled out of the three-match Test series. The veteran opener, who had replaced Ajinkya Rahane as vice-captain for this series, sustained a hamstring injury during a practice session in Mumbai. As Rohit has been a vital cog of the Test team lately, his absence could cost India big time.

Speaking of the same, former Indian batter Aakash Chopra asserted that Rohit’s injury-enforced absence has significantly weakened the Indian side. Notably, the tracks in the rainbow nation are known to offer a lot of bounce. Hence, many visiting batters, especially from Asian conditions, struggle to score in South Africa. Moreover, the Proteas side has services of some gun fast bowlers like Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi.

Moreover, Rohit is an addition to the log list of Indian players missing this series due to injuries. Highlighting all these factors, Chopra sarcastically said India should cancel South Africa and they might be forced to field a second-stringed team.

Rohit Sharma is going to be a huge miss: Aakash Chopra

“Ravindra Jadeja unavailable, Axar Patel unavailable, Rahul Chahar unavailable, you don’t have Shubman Gill and now they are saying that Rohit Sharma is also not there. I mean what is happening? Should we cancel the South Africa tour?” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.

“Rohit Sharma is going to be a huge miss. If his tour is in doubt, India’s chances are looking in doubt because who was your best Test batter in 2021. Why did you do well in England – Rohit was there with Rahul. Rohit has started loving Test cricket and he is enjoying leaving or defending,” he added.

With Rohit and Gill being unavailable, Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul are all set to form the opening pair for India. While both these batters are reliable, India don’t have a solid back-up option. Notably, uncapped batter Priyank Panchal has been named Rohit’s replacement in the Test squad.

“There are multi-fold problems. Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal had opened just now, KL Rahul was injured. I met KL Rahul recently and he said that he will be fine. You will see Mayank Agarwal opening along with him but who will be the third opener now?” stated Chopra further.