Aakash Chopra criticizes Australia and England cricket: Australia are potentially out of the 2026 T20 World Cup after their 8-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka on Monday. The Australian team has been struggling in this World Cup campaign as two of their key fast bowlers, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, have been ruled out due to various injuries.
The Australian team found its knockout qualification tough after its defeat against Zimbabwe. They are yet to beat the Chevrons in the T20 World Cup format. In the two matches, Zimbabwe has won both its matches against the Australian team. Following the defeat, former India opener Aakash Chopra has questioned Australia and England being their “custodians of cricket”.
Aakash Chopra criticized Australia and England cricket
Aakash Chopra, speaking via
“Let’s talk about Associate countries and full member countries like Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe. Five years is a big sample size. Australia – how much have you played against them? When you lose to Zimbabwe, it suddenly becomes a great story.”
“But if we look at the last five years and remove the ICC competitions in which it is mandatory to play, do you know how many matches you have played? A total of six in five years in ODIs and T20s. That is not good enough.”
England cricket does not help develop associate countries
Aakash Chopra also pointed out that England had almost lost to Nepal and Italy. Akash said, “Now look at England. In the last five years, they have played only nine matches outside ICC events. Believe it or not – one team has played six matches in five years, the other only nine. So how are you improving the game? How are you adapting to it? How are you taking care of it?”
Aakash Chopra further added, “Now consider what India has done in this period. Overall, India have played 36 matches, of which 23 are outside ICC events. If one argues that these additional matches come from the Asia Cup due to regional advantage, then even after removing the ACC and ICC multi-nation tournaments, India still have 16 such matches. One team has six, the other nine – India still have 16.”
Here is the video
Are Australia and England really the “custodians of cricket” as they claim? Let’s take a look at what they have done to spread the game by playing with Associate nations in the last 5 years. Do you think full member countries should do more to grow the sport?#Oracle #Cricket pic.twitter.com/8RKh6ABQQw
– Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) 17 February 2026
Then, Aakash Chopra finally said, “So where are you? What is your contribution? Ask yourself this question. Instead of this, there is posturing every two years. When there is trouble, everyone suddenly gets up and talks about the allies – Zimbabwe, Ireland, Scotland – and how well they play.”
“Then we forget about them for two years. Why? Because England and Australia don’t really care. The statistics show that over the last five years, they don’t play – they just talk.”
England and Australia’s cricket is not at its best
England has qualified for the next round. However, they have serious chances of qualifying for the semi-finals as they will be playing Super 8 matches in Sri Lanka, where the pitches have grip and spin.
Australia will face Oman and will want Zimbabwe to lose both their remaining matches against Ireland and Sri Lanka respectively to qualify for the Super 8s. If Zimbabwe wins against Ireland today, Australia will be out.
Also read: ‘Pakistan asked Rohit Sharma if he could captain and bat for them’