Cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has revealed that he was subject to a lot of online abuse from MS Dhoni’s fans after leaving out the former Indian captain from his 14-man squad for the upcoming 2020 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. Chopra, who is one of India’s prominent and most loved cricket commentators, picked squad for the T20I World Cup last month where he left Dhoni, who has not played any form of cricket since July 2019, out of the reckoning. The 42-year-old then had to face a lot of flak from Dhoni’s fans for his opinion with trolls also targeting his family and children. MS Dhoni’s India Comeback Dependent on IPL Is a Misconception: Aakash Chopra.

In a conversation with Ajit Agarkar, Chopra revealed that his decision to pick KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the two wicket-keepers for the tournament and leave out Dhoni did not really go down well with the fans, who resorted to abusing him and his family. The online abuse went to such an extent that Chopra had to stay away from social media for a couple of days. Ziva Accelerates Bike While Daddy MS Dhoni Takes Pillion Seat, CSK Shares the Video.

“I had to close social media for a few days. People abused me so much, it kept on coming, they abused the kids as well. I said please pardon me guys, what happened has happened,” the former Indian opening batsman revealed. Ziva Accelerates Bike While Daddy MS Dhoni Takes Pillion Seat, CSK Shares the Video.

MS Dhoni last played for India at the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals where India lost to New Zealand by 18 runs and were knocked out of the tournament. Post the World Cup heartbreak, Dhoni went on a two-month break to train with his paramilitary regiment but has since refrained from many comments about his future. He has been on a self-imposed exile from cricket for the last 10 months and although he was supposed to return back into the cricketing fold with IPL 2020, the tournament was suspended indefinitely owing to the coronavirus outbreak which has thrown more doubts into Dhoni’s future.

Many have cited his lack of match practise and also fitness as the primary reason to not pick him for the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. Agarkar though refused to put his own opinion on the matter and instead asserted it will be extremely difficult for the selectors to pick Dhoni after such a long gap from competitive cricket.

“I don’t know actually. Retiring or not retiring is MS Dhoni’s call. To select or to not select is selectors’ call if he fits in their plan. I don’t know, for the player who hasn’t played for a year, for me it will be difficult. Don’t know about the communication between MS Dhoni and team management or with the selectors,” Agarkar said.

“We don’t know about that. It will be difficult talking about an individual player but I will like to see the player playing cricket,” Agarkar, who was part of the 2007 Indian squad that under Dhoni's captaincy lifted the inaugural T20I World Cup, added. “If someone is not playing cricket then there is no point giving an opinion on them or discussing about.

“I know people discuss about Dhoni because he has not retired and he has not played also. It’s obvious because of his achievements and fan following in India. Fans want him to play again but there is no point of discussion till the time he doesn’t play cricket,” added the former Indian all-rounder.

The current players of the Indian cricket team, including Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah, have however maintained that the veteran Indian wicketkeeper-batsman would give India an added advantage if included in the World Cup squad.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 19, 2020 10:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).