‘Marked their attendance and left’- Aakash Chopra lashes out at Rohit Sharma and Co. for skipping ongoing Ranji Trophy round

Both cricket pundits and fans applauded the return of experienced players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to domestic cricket. Nevertheless, Aakash Chopra is not entirely happy with the way some of the cricket players left the scene after only playing in one round in the Ranji Trophy 2024–25.

Senior players that played for their teams in the sixth round included Rohit, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Rajindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. But everyone is absent from the current seventh round except for Jadeja.

Senior batsman Virat Kohli, who was sidelined by a neck sprain in the last round, is playing for Delhi against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. KL Rahul, who missed the previous round due to a niggle, is playing in the seventh round, just like Kohli.

This element has been criticized by Aakash Chopra, who claimed that it has made participating in the Ranji Trophy appear like a punishment for the players.

Virat Kohli is playing, but several other players, including Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, are not. According to Chopra, who was speaking on his YouTube channel, “all the players have finally played their token Ranji Trophy match, marked their attendance, and left.”

“Virat Kohli is currently playing because he wasn’t present at that round. How does it tell you? This position, which involved playing Ranji Trophy, was rather punitive. Playing first-class cricket, however, ought to be a privilege rather than a punishment, he continued.

In the Ranji Trophy, Rahul returned after a five-year absence. The 32-year-old, who was playing for Karnataka, was out for 26 on Day 1 by Anshul Kamboj.

Arun Jaitley Stadium saw about 28,000 spectators in the meantime as they watched Kohli play against Railways. Nevertheless, the ardent fans were forced to settle for witnessing the iconic cricket player fielding during the day. For the three-match ODI series against England that begins on February 6, both Rahul and Kohli are included in India’s lineup.