‘Do I grudge his money? Not at all’ - Aakash Chopra reflects on Alex Hales’ retirement decision

The star English batter, Alex Hales, recently, stunned the world by announcing his decision to retire from international cricket. Being The 34-year-old represented England in 156 games across formats and amassed 5066 runs. Hales wanted to solely focus on franchise cricket and hence he decided to bid adieu to international cricket.

The same has been the trend for quite some time now, many cricketers have given up their central contracts with the national team to focus more on franchise cricket. Consequently, this had triggered various cricket experts to put forth their views on Hales' sudden retirement and the focus on the franchise move.

In the same vein, talking of Alex Hales’ decision, the former Indian cricketer, Aakash Chopra opined that he could have played international cricket for more years but he does understand his decision. Furthermore, he stated that he made the decision because he did not had anything more to achieve in international circuit and that he does not grudge his money.

"Is it too early? 34 years is an age where you feel you can stretch it for another two to three years. Even if he didn't play in the ODI World Cup, he could have been a strong candidate for the next T20 World Cup," Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.

"However, he said that he wants to take the route of just playing league cricket and making a lot of money for the next two-three years because he has already won the World Cup and doesn't have a dream of achieving anything more while playing for England. Do I grudge his money? Not at all," he added.

This ever-growing phenomenon will be seen growing further: Chopra

Furthermore, Aakash Chopra also talked about the ever-growing trend of league cricket and opined that it could only get bigger from here. Recently, the USA also announced their own league cricket tournament in the form of Major League Cricket (MLC).

"One thing is for sure - this ever-growing phenomenon will be seen growing further because you now have a league everywhere. You have MLC in America, T10 somewhere else, then Zim Afro, ILT20, CPL, BBL, PSL, IPL, SA20 - there are so many PLs (leagues)," Chopra concluded.