Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has shared his views on the recent Twitter war between Aakash Chopra and Venkatesh Prasad over K.L. Rahul's form in Test cricket and questioned former cricketers "what would you have done if they were in Rahul's position?"
Prasad has constantly criticised Rahul for his poor run of form which led to a war of words with Chopra, who tried to defend the right-hander from the former pacer's criticism.
"If any player does not do well the first to feel bad are the player himself and his family. We all love those cricketers. If you are loving those cricketers then your anger is evident.
But don't get too overboard so that the player's mentality can be damaged," Harbhajan Singh said on his Youtube channel. The right-handed batter has failed to impress in the Test lately.
He has only scored one fifty in the last six Test matches he has played for India. In the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy, Rahul has made scores of 20, 17 and 1 in the first two Tests.
Despite his poor run in the recent matches, he is still getting backed by the team management which has invited heavy criticism from former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad.
"If you were in place of K.L. Rahul what would you have done? Do you think he is not trying to score runs? He has been a terrific player for India and he will come good," said Harbhajan.
"We are all giving our opinions on social media. It is alright as it is our opinion but just don't go after him. He is also human he is trying to do well. You who have been players I request you all try and see this from that perspective," Harbhajan added.
The off-spinner further questioned if there was any player who has not gone through a rough patch in his career. "Show me one player since the time of Gavaskar sir, even before his time and even today.
Is there any player who has not gone through a rough phase where he either has not scored runs or picked up wickets? In these phases, the player needs to understand what is going wrong and what he needs to do to show the same talent and skills again," Harbhajan added.
"My suggestion is -- during these times instead of criticising them let us support him which will be good for him and us too as his admirers." Even after playing a forgetful knock in the first two Tests, Rahul has retained his place in the India squad for the third and fourth Tests of the Border-Gavaskar trophy but lost the vice-captain tag next to his name.