Aakash Chopra has highlighted Rajasthan Royals’ leg-spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal on his not so upto the mark performance in this IPl 2024 edition after being included in the T20 World Cup squad. The leg-spinner provided with 0/34 in four overs following their loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 2.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) gave the RR a 176-run target to chase after having asked to bat first. Pat Cummins and his team then restricted their chase to 139/7 to register their 36-run victory to book their place for the final match against the KKR which is to commence on the 26th of May at Chepauk.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s form has dipped a little- Aakash Chopra
In a recently shared video from Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel, he observed that Ashwin and Chahal were not living up to the expectations:
“It was expected that spin bowling would take a lot of wickets in this match because this is Ashwin’s ground and Yuzi Chahal would also shine as the pitch had spin and Hyderabad’s record against leg spin is extremely ordinary. Eight overs of spin were bowled, in which 77 runs were scored. This is crazy,” he mentioned.
“Yuzi Chahal’s form has dipped a little. He bowled well in the last match against RCB but if you see Chahal’s numbers after selection, you will find a slight dip. Ashwin didn’t try to spin the ball much in this match. It seemed like he was bowling a little too fast. So he also leaked a lot of runs,” the former opener further added.
On the other hand, Chopra lauded the Rajasthan Royals seamers for displaying good bowling:
“The fast bowlers picked up wickets, whether it was Sandeep Sharma, the yorker he bowled to get Heinrich Klaasen out, Avesh Khan, who took two wickets in two balls, or Trent Boult, who had already picked up three wickets. Eight wickets fell (apart from a last-ball run-out) and all of them went to pacers,” Chopra explained.
Ashwin was just as hopeless as Chahal as he conceded 43 runs in four overs. Avesh Khan (3/27), Trent Boult (3/45), and Sandeep Sharma (2/25) were in the spotlight as RR’s successful bowlers.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was finally seeing playing well – Aakash Chopra on the Rajasthan Royals’ chase
Aakash Chopra reflected on the Rajasthan Royals’ chase and observed that Yashasvi Jaiswal was starting to regain his form before his dismissal which changed the course of the game.
“The start was extremely slow. Tom Kohler-Cadmore, it wasn’t enjoyable the way he batted. Pat Cummins got him out. Yashasvi Jaiswal was finally seeing playing well. He had scored a century in this season but after that, his form has also gone downwards. He scored 40 in the last match as well but wasn’t that convincing,” Chopra mentioned.
“He played well in this match. It seemed like he would go after finishing the match. Pat (Cummins) took a chance and brought a left-arm spinner in Shahbaz Ahmed. He first hit a very good reverse sweep but was then caught out in the deep, and the game turned on its head,” the commentator added.
Chopra noted that SRH spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma had disrupted their (RR) middle batting order.
“Then whether it was Sanju Samson or Riyan Parag, Shahbaz was bowling from one end and Abhishek Sharma came from the other, and wickets started falling. In the end, Dhruv Jurel batted well and fought. I believe if he had played all matches at a good number and had a good season, he would have been a candidate to fly for the Indian team,” Chopra concluded.
Jurel had an undisputed run of 56 off 35 deliveries with seven fours and two sixes, being the only RR batter to score more than 10 runs apart from Jaiswal.