The social media spat between former India bowler Venkatesh Prasad and another ex-cricketer, Akash Chopra, has taken an ugly turn over the selection of flop KL Rahul in the Test squad. The matter turned for worse after Prasad liked an old video of Chopra’s sycophantic rant for Sunil Shetty, whose daughter Athiya Shetty recently got married to Rahul.
After the BCCI selected Rahul despite his consistently poor run with the bat, Prasad had posted a series of tweets questioning the BCCI’s desperation to continue with Rahul and ignoring the talent like Safaraz Khan, who’s arguably the most prolific run-getter in domestic cricket today.
Irked by Prasad’s ire, Chopra posted a 12-minute video on YouTube in a bid to desperately defend Rahul’s selection. He even called Prasad an agenda peddler.
Taking a dim view of Chopra’s ‘vile video’, Prasad wrote on Twitter, “So my friend Aakash Chopra after making a vile video on YouTube this morning where he calls me an agenda peddle, conveniently and cleverly misquotes me, removes Mayank’s average of 70 at home, wants to gag views which are not in line with what he believes but wanted Rohit out.”
He added, “And the argument that we should not criticise a player in an ongoing match personally doesn’t make sense to me. That doesn’t affect the players performance. Most players don’t read views even after the match and no player can read in between match as phones are deposited :)”
So my friend Aakash Chopra after making a vile video on YouTube this morning where he calls me an agenda peddle, conveniently and cleverly misquotes me, removes Mayank’s average of 70 at home, wants to gag views which are not in line with what he believes but wanted Rohit out pic.twitter.com/2HwFLMgvmd
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) February 21, 2023
Cornered by widespread criticism following Prasad’s tweets, Chopra tried to redeem himself as he sought to clarify that his message in the YouTube video had been lost in translation.
He wrote, “Venky bhai, msgs are getting lost in translation. You here. Me on YT. I invite you to come on a Video Chat…we can do it Live. Difference on opinions is nice…lets do it properly 😊 I’ll not have any sponsors on it & nobody will make money out of it. Up for it? You have my number.”
To which, Prasad replied, “No Aakash, nothing is lost in translation. In your 12 minute video you have called me as an agenda peddler because it didn’t suit your narrative. It is crystal clear. And I have made my points very clear in this Twitter thread. Don’t wish to engage with you further on this.”
No Aakash, nothing is lost in translation. In your 12 minute video you have called me as an agenda peddler because it didn’t suit your narrative.
It is crystal clear. And I have made my points very clear in this Twitter thread. Don’t wish to engage with you further on this 🙏🏼 https://t.co/GhlfWI0kHA
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) February 21, 2023
Meanwhile, a user shared an old video of Chopra’s sycophancy in Shetty’s presence and shared it with a caption that read, ‘bruh!”
bruh.. pic.twitter.com/x0qfj6U6LC
— retired ICT fan (@anubhav__tweets) February 21, 2023
Chopra represented India in 10 Test matches and scored 437runs in 19 innings with an average of 23 including two half centuries.
In contrast, Prasad played for India in 33 Test matches and took 96 wickets including seven five-wicket hauls. He represented India in 161 ODI matches and scalped 196 wickets including one five-wicket haul.
