‘Can we leave KL Rahul alone?’: Harbhajan Singh appeals amid Twitter war between Venkatesh Prasad and Aakash Chopra | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The debate over woefully out-of-form KL Rahul‘s place in the Indian team refuses to die down with former players Venkatesh Prasad and Aakash Chopra engaging in a bitter Twitter war with their own take on batter’s form.
Now, former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also joined the debate by appealing to the duo to leave Rahul alone without taking their names.
Harbhajan took to Twitter on Tuesday to post: “Can we leave @klrahul alone guys ? He hasn’t done any crime.He is still a top player. He will come back strong.we all go thru such patches in international cricket.he is not the first one and last one. so please respect the fact that he is our own player and have faith.”

Prasad has been questioning Rahul’s place in the team for the past few days with his regular posts on social media which did not go well with Chopra.

Prasad, after being accused of running an agenda by Chopra in a Youtube video, posted a flurry of tweets to clear his stand and said he has nothing against Rahul or any other player.

Chopra then invited Prasad to come on a video chat to clear all the differences but the latter turned down the invitation saying he made his points very clear 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,” Prasad tweeted.
“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,” he added.

Prasad clarified that he only voiced his opinion on merit but it was disappointing to see Aakash calling it personal agenda.
“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.”
The former pacer also posted a screenshot of Chopra’s old tweet in which he questioned Rohit Sharma’s place in the team.

“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.”
Chopra questioned Prasad’s timing to criticise Rahul and said this can affect players performance.
“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.”

“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,” he concluded.