The 'Monster' In Indian Cricket: Aakash Chopra's Scathing Assessment On Paid PR Campaigns And Rumours Spreading

On the eve of India's T20I squad(s) announcement for the upcoming bilateral series in Ireland and England, and the Asian Games 2026, former opening batter and veteran commentator Aakash Chopra discussed the "monster" in Indian cricket: the paid public relations (PR) campaigns and culture of spreading rumours through influencers.

His remarks come amid reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is ready to move on from the current T20I skipper, whose form and fitness have come under intense scrutiny.

Speaking on his official YouTube channel, the 48-year-old exposed the behind-the-scenes engineering, claiming that media leaks about player selections or omissions have become an elaborate PR strategy adopted by various camps.

In his assessment of how narratives are manufactured and "how news planting and paid PR campaigns shape public perception", Chopra compared the inner workings of Indian cricket to tricks used in the film industry.

"News gets planted nowadays. It has happened many times. Sometimes they do it through a journalist who they are friends with. It is part of a PR campaign. Three-four people plant it and then the social media cycle, the monster, it takes over. Hundreds of people will start talking about the same thing and suddenly it feels like everyone is talking about it. Although, they are not talking about it organically."

"In fact in the same way songs are also made popular. It happens with the Bollywood songs. The song is average and it has a 10 second hook step. Then they tell the influencers and tell them to make a reel on it. That gets popular because the influencers are popular, they make some dance moves and then the song goes into trending."

"So you start a thing in exchange of money and then the rest of it becomes organic. This is how the PR campaign tend to work. So in that way, sometimes news gets planted. In our times, it was done by media. Players had their favourite journalists. "

"They use to make the environment that if someone will get selected or dropped. This was incredible back in the day. Nowadays the social media universe has taken over the tradition of reporting. That time it was slightly manipulated, here it is openly manipulated. "

Before addressing the "monster", Chopra opined that the selection committee should avoid short-term fixes and think long-term. He emphasised that the squads picked on Saturday must serve as a transition, heading into the next ICC T20 World Cup and the Los Angeles Olympics.

Analysing the candidates to succeed Yadav, if at all he's sacked, Chopra threw his weight behind Shreyas Iyer. He noted that the middle-order batter, who guided three different Indian Premier League (IPL) teams to the playoffs, has extensive experience.

Beyond the leadership discourse, several reports suggest that Indian selectors are likely to fast-track 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi into the senior national team. The teen prodigy dominated the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), finishing as the leading run-scorer -- 776 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 237.30 -- and earning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

The BCCI on Friday (June 5, 2026) confirmed the timings of the team announcement. According to a release, the selection meeting will be held at the board's headquarters in Mumbai.

It will be followed by a press conference, to be addressed by the chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and BCCI honorary secretary Devajit Saikia. The press conference is expected to begin at 1:00 PM IST.

India's tour of the United Kingdom begins with two T20Is against Ireland in Belfast on June 26 and 28, followed by a white-ball series against England starting July 1. They will play five T20Is and three ODIs.

The men's cricket event at the 20th Asian Games in Japan will run from September 24 to October 3.