Aakash Chopra facts for kids

Aakash Chopra, born on September 19, 1977, is a well-known cricket commentator and YouTuber. He used to be a professional cricketer who played for the Indian cricket team for a short time between 2003 and 2004.

Today, Aakash Chopra works as a Hindi cricket commentator for JioStar. He also used to write columns about cricket for ESPNcricinfo.

During his international career, he played 10 Test matches. He scored 437 runs, averaging 23 runs per game. In Indian domestic cricket, he played for teams like Delhi cricket team, Himachal Pradesh cricket team, and Rajasthan cricket team. He also played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Aakash Chopra's Cricket Journey

Playing for India

Aakash Chopra started his Test cricket journey in Ahmedabad in late 2003. He played against New Zealand. India was looking for a good opening partner for his teammate Virender Sehwag.

In a Test match in Mohali in 2003–2004, Chopra scored two half-centuries against New Zealand. Later, during India's tour to Australia in 2003–04, he often opened the batting with Virender Sehwag. They had two partnerships where they scored over 100 runs together in Melbourne and Sydney. As an opening batsman, Chopra helped India get big scores in that series. This allowed other famous batsmen like Rahul Dravid, V. V. S. Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly to score many runs.

On a trip to Pakistan, Chopra scored 42 runs in the first Test match. In that game, Virender Sehwag made India's first-ever triple century. India won that match in Multan. However, in the next Test, most Indian batsmen struggled. Chopra was later left out of the team when captain Sourav Ganguly returned from injury.

Chopra got another chance to play with Sehwag in the 2004 Border–Gavaskar Trophy. This happened after Sachin Tendulkar was injured. After a big loss in Bangalore, Chopra was dropped again. He was replaced by Yuvraj Singh as an opener. When Yuvraj also struggled, Chopra was called back for the third Test in Nagpur. Australia won this series, which was their first Test win in India in 35 years. After this, Chopra was dropped from the team for good. Other players like Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer became Sehwag's opening partners. Chopra was not considered for One Day International (ODI) matches because he scored runs too slowly.

Playing for Domestic Teams

In September 2008, Aakash played for Delhi in the Nissar Trophy. He then joined Rajasthan as a guest player. Chopra helped Rajasthan become the first team from the Plate division to win the Ranji Trophy. They won it again in the 2010–2011 season. In total, Chopra has won three Ranji titles: one with Delhi and two with Rajasthan.

Indian Premier League (IPL)

Chopra played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2008 and IPL 2009 seasons. However, he was later dropped from the team. This was because his scoring rate was considered too slow for the fast-paced Twenty20 (T20) cricket format. In those two seasons, he scored 53 runs in 6 games, averaging 8.83 runs.

In IPL 2011, Chopra joined the Rajasthan Royals. In 2015, he announced that he was retiring from all types of cricket. Aakash Chopra is one of the few Indian cricketers who have scored over 8,000 runs in First-Class cricket.

Beyond the Cricket Field

Writing and Commentary

Aakash Chopra writes columns that appear regularly in Mid-Day and on ESPNcricinfo. He is also a popular cricket commentator.

In 2009, Chopra released his first book, Beyond the Blues: A First-Class Season Like No Other. This book was like a diary of his domestic cricket season in 2007–2008. Many people praised the book. Suresh Menon from ESPNcricinfo said it was "the best book written by an Indian Test cricketer." In November 2011, his second book, Out of the Blue, was published. It was about Rajasthan's victory in the Ranji Trophy. He has written two more books: The Insider with ESPNcricinfo in 2015 and Numbers Do Lie with Impact Index in 2017.

Digital Media and YouTube

In May 2020, Chopra became a commentator for the popular mobile cricket game World Cricket Championship. He was the first commentator to join a digital game platform.

Aakash Chopra also has his own YouTube channel. On his channel, he shares his thoughts on cricket matches, including reviews after games and previews before them. His channel has grown very popular, with millions of subscribers.