Ajinkya Rahane is looking in great form but he has thrown his wicket away twice now: Aakash Chopra
Former India and KKR opener Aakash Chopra feels that Ajinkya Rahane is throwing his wicket away even though he has looked in good touch.
Kolkata Knight Riders registered their second win of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) on Friday (April 1). They defeated Punjab Kings by six wickets comfortably chasing down 138 runs with utter ease thanks to Andre Russell’s stunning unbeaten 70 off just 31 balls. But if not for his innings, KKR were in trouble chasing a small total as well.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has exactly highlighted the same with the Shreyas Iyer-led side. KKR were 51/4 at one stage in the chase and the batting had crumbled in the game against RCB as well.
WATCH: Andre Russell smashes Odean Smith for 30 runs in one over
Chopra pointed out that the openers Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer haven’t delivered as expected so far in the tournament. Rahane scored a sparkling 44 in the opening game vs CSK but hasn’t been up to the mark since then while Venkatesh Iyer has just not clicked so far.
“Kolkata could have had a better day, let’s be honest they had to play better. The start was not good. Venkatesh Iyer is not looking in great form and that’s not great news. Ajinkya is looking in great form but he has thrown away his wicket twice.
“Looking a million dollars but then gets out. He scored 44 runs in the first match but after that, 12 and 9 – that’s not right. He hit two or three very good fours. Venkatesh hits and finds a fielder off Odean Smith’s bowling,” he said while speaking on his Youtube channel.
Even Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana got out soon and Aakash Chopra reckoned KKR were actually lucky that Russell clicked on the day. He also highlighted the importance of batters applying more instead of going for big shots early on and losing the wicket.
“Shreyas Iyer has some issue with leg-spinners, he wants to hit a six as soon as he sees the ball, the ball went straight up in the air, he was dismissed for the fourth or fifth time by Rahul Chahar and was dismissed by Hasaranga in the last match. He is too good a player to play shots like these and get out. Shreyas – you have got to get your act together.
The wickets kept falling regularly. Nitish Rana gets hit on the pad right in front – it is three matches now, you have to apply yourself a little more. They were lucky that Andre Russell and Sam Billings got together and then the way they hit – when Andre Russell comes in form, Andre in, ball out,” Chopra added.