'If Ashwin talks, there will be sense' - Aakash Chopra backs senior spinner's suggestion of starting World Cup matches early

The former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra recently posted a video on his Youtube channel, where he made a sense of agreement with Ravichandran Ashwin’s suggestion to start the matches early in the ODI World Cup which is scheduled to be played in India later this year.

The 36-year-old off-spinner recently posted a tweet where he suggested for the World Cup matches to start early on to negate the advantage to the chasing side in the later part of the innings. Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Paras Mhambrey also came in the support of his statement but they also added that the decision is not in their hands.

In his video, Aakash made a point that Ashwin has come with reasonable demand and that he never says anything without consideration. Chopra said, "Principally, in theory, it makes a lot of sense. If Ashwin talks, there will be sense. I don't think he would be saying anything without consideration. If he has said it, it carries weight, and it is a fact that dew comes later.

Even if the dew doesn't come, assuming you have sprayed a lot, a slight film is formed, the ball becomes a little damp and the pitch becomes favorable for batting and it becomes slightly skewed in favor of the team that's batting second."

He also mentioned some pros and cons of starting the matches early. The advantage is- the pitch and the conditions will remain the same throughout the match. It will break the template of winning the toss and winning the match. And the disadvantage is, viewership could drop if the matches start early, affecting the broadcaster's revenue plan.

"He (Ashwin) said this, and Rohit Sharma was in total agreement but everyone said that it is not in their hands. Why is it not in their hands? This is going to be a difficult World Cup in any case from the broadcaster's point of view because the ODI TRPs do not skyrocket."

With whatever Chopra said he pretty much agreed with the suggestion of Ashwin, but also showed concerns regarding the losses the broadcasters will suffer. "The weekday games, in particular - a sizeable match gets over when the kids are in school and the adults are mostly in the office. The only thing that you bank on is that if the match starts at 1:30, people might tune in around 7:00 as they want to watch Kohli play. If the match starts at 11:30, the match will be over by the time people reach home. I don't think that's going to fly with the broadcasters. Broadcasters will say they will have a huge loss," Chopra concluded.

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