Former India opener turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned Ben Stokes for his poor captaincy in the second Test between India and England. England went into the second Test in Visakhapatnam on a high note after a 28-run win in the first game in Hyderabad. But India beat them by 106 runs to level the five-match series.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra criticized Ben Stokes’ captaincy. He said: “Do they (England) follow the Bazball approach in bowling as well? They keep slightly innovative fields at times. That is interesting, I like that because it forces you to think repeatedly.”

“However, beyond that, I don’t see any aggressive captaincy. With his field placements and usage of his bowlers, the captaincy is not at all aggressive. On the first day, he didn’t use Rehan Ahmed for the first 60 overs. He forgot that he had a leg-spinner. He picked up wickets in the end as well but you didn’t get him to bowl. Ben Stokes’ cult has become so big that I don’t see the whispers in the English media, that someone criticizes him for doing something wrong. He forgot Shoaib Bashir in the second innings.”

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Meanwhile, Rehan Ahmed was introduced into the attack only in the 60th over of India’s first innings. The young leg-spinner finished with figures of 3/65 in 17 overs, dismissing Rajat Patidar, Srikar Bharat and Jasprit Bumrah as well. And, Aakash Chopra also questioned Ben Stokes and the England team management’s decision to play just one seamer as well.

“In fact, a huge tactical blunder was that you didn’t play two fast bowlers. This pitch was screaming that you should play two fast bowlers but you didn’t play them. You said you would go with one only. You even said that you could go with an all-spin attack. That is a failure to read the pitch. A failure should be called what it is because it was a tactical failure that you played only one fast bowler and you felt the absence of another fast bowler,” Aakash Chopra concluded.