Former India opener Aakash Chopra has questioned the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) decision to rest senior players, including regular captain Rohit Sharma, out-of-form star batter Virat Kohli, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant and flamboyant all-rounder Hardik Pandya from the upcoming three-match ODI series against the West Indies.

Aakash Chopra, however, was more concerned about two of India's biggest stars, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who have been out of form for a while now.

Taking an indirect dig at both cricketers, Aakash Chopra said that during his time, players were dropped for poor form and not rested, as has become the norm nowadays.

“What is with all the rest? How much rest do you want? Earlier, when a player used to be out of form, he used to be dropped and picked again only when he scored runs in domestic cricket. But now whenever someone is out of form, he rests. Are you guys not worried about it?” Aakash Chopra said on his Youtube channel.

“I personally think whenever someone is our of form, he should play as much cricket is possible. When there were strict bio bubbles, there was no cricket for almost six months in 2020 from March to September. Next year again you play one half of IPL and then after gap of three-four months you played the second half. So it's already a rest of ten months in 2-3 years. You don't get anymore rest than this in professional sport,” Aakash Chopra added.

“It's good that India keep on giving opportunities to players like Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson when the big players are rested. But what when these fringe players score runs. Do you tell them that they are dropped just because the big players are available now? Won't they feel what wrong they have done?” Aakash Chopra concluded.

Earlier this week, the BCCI named a 16-member squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against the West Indies.

And it came as a shock to a section of Indian supporters that both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were rested from the 50-over games against the Caribbean side.

Notably, Rohit Sharma was rested from last month’s T20I series against South Africa and missed the recently-concluded Test against England owing to a positive COVID-19 Test. Virat Kohli too was absent from the five games against the Proteas but took part in the final Test against the Three Lions.

Senior opener Shikhar Dhawan was appointed as the captain for the series while talismanic all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been named as his deputy.

Shikhar Dhawan wasn’t included in the squad for the T20I series against England but will be a part of the three ODI games against the Jos Buttler-led side.

Coming back to Ravindra Jadeja, the Saurashtra player made a scintillating ton in the Test against Edgbaston and is a key player for India in the ODIs. That’s why the BCCI has anointed him as the vice-captain against the West Indies.

BCCI’s announcement to “rest” Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from the One-Day Internationals against the West Indies was also slammed by former India pacer Irfan Pathan who slammed the national selectors for giving them rest way too often.

Virat Kohli’s struggles with the bat, in particular, have shown no signs of ending, with the modern-day great even having issues in consistently reaching thirties and forties of late.

His form across all formats of the game has been a major worry for the Indian team with his last hundred in international cricket coming way back in November 2019 in the historic pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata.

After having a disastrous Indian Premier League (IPL), Virat Kohli made only 31 runs in his two innings against England in the Edgbaston Test.

In the IPL, Virat Kohli once again disappointed his fans, as he could only make 341 runs with a poor average of 22.73 in 16 games. Kohli’s run in the IPL was a horror show, to say the least as he registered three golden ducks in the same tournament for the first time in his career.

Virat Kohli is expected to be back in India’s playing XI for the second T20I against England in Birmingham.

India currently lead the three-match T20I series against the Three Lions 1-0, having beaten England at Southampton by 50 runs on Thursday.

But alarm bells are already ringing for Virat Kohli as recent reports in the Indian media suggest that the national selectors are on the verge of dropping him from the national T20I side if he fails to get going in the limited-overs leg of the tour against England.

“The T20I team has been withheld to evaluate the rest needed to be given to the top players. Rohit, Pant, and Pandya are likely to play the T20Is in West Indies. Bumrah most likely will not be traveling to the Caribbean. As for Kohli, one needs to see what the team management decides on what it needs for the T20 World Cup. This limited-overs series in England is very crucial for Kohli,” a BCCI told The Times of India.