Former Indian national cricket team opener Aakash Chopra has criticized Shubman Gill’s captaincy in the ongoing second Test of the two-match series against the West Indies national cricket team.
Aakash Chopra was also angry at Shubman Gill for completely ignoring Nitish Kumar Reddy at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and not giving him a chance to lay down his arms.
NKR not bowling even a single over out of more than 200 overs bowled by India in Delhi is shocking – Aakash Chopra
India defeated West Indies by an innings and 140 runs in the opening match of the Test series at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Nitish Kumar Reddy was part of the playing eleven in the match, but he did not make any contribution.
He bowled four overs in West Indies’ first innings and did not bowl in the second innings, while he did not get a chance to bat in India’s only innings. However, he took a blinder to send back Tegenarin Chanderpaul.
Speaking at a post-match press conference, India coach Ryan ten Doeschate said that he wanted to be fair to Nitish Kumar Reddy and give him some game time in home conditions and not just test him in away matches.
It was expected that Nitish Kumar Reddy would get a chance to play an important role with both bat and ball in the Delhi Test, but it did not happen. Nitish Kumar Reddy scored 43 runs with the bat in India’s first innings and after that he was completely ignored by Indian captain Shubman Gill.
India bowled 81.5 overs to bowl out West Indies for 248 runs and then followed on. The visiting team performed better in the innings and scored 390 runs in 118.5 overs. However, in both the innings, Nitish Kumar Reddy was not given a chance to bowl and this came as a blow to Aakash Chopra.
The former India opener wrote on X, “It is shocking that NKR did not bowl even a single over in the 200-plus overs bowled by India in Delhi. #IndvWI.”
It is surprising that NKR did not bowl even a single over out of more than 200 overs bowled by India in Delhi. #IndvWI
– Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) 13 October 2025
To be honest, I am actually a little disappointed – Aakash Chopra
Speaking on Star Sports, Aakash Chopra said that Shubman Gill’s captaincy was very disappointing on the fourth day of the Delhi Test and he did not make any aggressive attacks on the opposition team. He said:
“To be honest, I am actually a bit disappointed. I had expected a bit better plans. If you are ahead of the game, you want to show it in everything, and I did not see that. Playing only five bowlers does not create an attack. You had a sixth bowling option, which you did not go towards at all. You have an arrow in your quiver, but you did not use it at all. So we do not know whether he will be effective or not.
“With the arrows you have, the field placements you have, how can you give away singles so easily? I’m a little surprised by that and personally a little disappointed as well. Normally, one should celebrate when a team wins, and we all will celebrate, but if you want to be the best team in the world, learn from them when you are winning, so that next time you can correct those mistakes.”
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Even after Jaden Seales came to bat, we were waiting for him to get out – Aakash Chopra
India restricted West Indies to 311/9, but then Jayden Seales and Justin Greaves put on a sensational 79-run partnership from 133 balls to bring the visitors back into the game.
This left Aakash Chopra quite disappointed as he questioned Shubman Gill’s decision to play the waiting game and give place to Jaden Seals. He said:
“Even after Jaden Seales came to bat, we were waiting for him to get out. There is a limit to waiting. You have to do something from your side. That happened many times in this match. As a team, we seemed to wait and see what happens and that is not good news.”
“It could be an isolated incident where you give the follow-on first and then you bowl so much that you get tired. The pitch doesn’t have that much bounce and that is being used in the batting. However, in my opinion, you have to attack a little more.”