'Cleverly misquoted me' - Venkatesh Prasad digs out Aakash Chopra's old tweet on Rohit Sharma amid KL Rahul debate

Venkatesh Prasad and Aakash Chopra continued their ongoing Twitter battle, with the former bringing out an old Tweet from the latter. In his latest Tweet, Venkatesh hit back at Chopra by posting a decade-old Tweet from the latter regarding Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. 

In his Tweet on December 2012, Chopra had questioned the management's decision of selecting Rohit over Rahane. "Rahane doesn't make it to the XI. And 'talented' Rohit Sharma does," Chopra had tweeted back then.

It is fair to say that the current Indian captain struggled for consistency in his initial years despite featuring regularly in white-ball cricket. Venkatesh posted a screenshot of Chopra's criticism of Rohit's selection over Ajinkya and accused the latter for misquoting him. 

"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," Venkatesh wrote in his latest Tweet.

Venkatesh Prasad@venkateshprasad

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

Venkatesh Prasad@venkateshprasad

I have no agenda against any player, maybe there are others who have. Difference of opinion is fine but calling contrary views as apna personal agenda and Twitter par mat laayein is funny for @cricketaakash , considering he has made a great career by airing his views. I have …

06:18 PM · Feb 21, 2023

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Venkatesh Prasad@venkateshprasad

I have nothing against KL or any other player, my voice has been against unfair selection and different yardsticks for performers. Be it Sarfaraz or Kuldeep, have voiced based on merit. But it was disappointing to see Aakash calling it personal agenda.

Venkatesh Prasad@venkateshprasad

This is what Aakash had aired when Rohit was 24 with 4 yrs in international cross. He can use sarcasm for Rohit at 24, and I cannot point out underperforming Rahul at 31 with 8 years in International cricket. Yeh bhi sahi hai

06:22 PM · Feb 21, 2023

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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 :)

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) February 21, 2023

I admire Aakash for the hardwork he puts on his YouTube channel but calling a different view point as agenda because it doesn’t suit his narrative is poor. There is no bitterness between us and since his video was in public domain wanted to put my point out here. Best wishes

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) February 21, 2023

How did it start?

Venkatesh was one of the prominent names to criticise KL Rahul after the latter scored just 17 runs in the first innings of the second Test in Australia. He had earlier questioned Rahul's selection over Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal in the playing XI and accused the management for 'favoritism'.

Aakash was quick to react to Venkatesh's remark and blasted the former pacer for being too harsh on Rahul. He also accused Venkatesh of "leading a mob against Rahul" and defended under-performing Rahul in his recent video.

After a Twitter used lauded Chopra for bringing out the context in numbers instead of serving any misleading stats, he reckoned that it is the right thing to do, while adding that this is not a personal battle between him and Venkatesh, but only an attempt to highlight the truth.

"We must always try to do the right thing. Mobilising the internet mob is the easiest thing to do. Standing against the tide for the right reasons is what sports teach us. Also, it’s not Me vs Venky Bhai. I have immense respect for him but I feel it’s my duty to bring context," Aakash said in his Tweet on February 21.

Aakash Chopra@cricketaakash

We must always try to do the right thing. Mobilising the internet mob is the easiest thing to do. Standing against the tide for the right reasons is what sports teaches us 🫶 Also, it’s not Me vs Venky Bhai. I have immense respect for himbut I feel it’s my duty to bring context twitter.com/cricricky/stat…

Ricky talks Cricket@CricRicky

@cricketaakash Ofcourse both of you and Venky are entitled to your opinions but • Venky is positing plain Stats whereas you are digging numbers to give a context • Venky is just going with the flow hitting the easiest target, you are standing against the wind Therefore Aakash -2 Venky -0

01:14 PM · Feb 21, 2023

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