Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra questioned Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant after they suffered a six-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday. Chopra highlighted that Prince Yadav was LSG’s best bowler as he conceded 24 runs in his three overs.
But surprisingly, Yadav was not given his final over by Rishabh Pant despite being the most economical LSG bowler. All the LSG bowlers conceded their runs at an economy rate of more than 11 while defending the target of 229 runs.
“Their best bowler didn’t even complete his overs. He bowled the fewest balls. Prince Yadav’s one over was left. For whom did you save him? He had conceded only 12 runs in his first two overs, six runs per over, and around 40 runs were required in the last four overs when you called him to bowl his third over,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra also questioned Pant for giving the last Powerplay over to Avesh Khan, who conceded 21 runs.
“He (Prince) wasn’t bowled. Why? How? It was very, very surprising the way the game plan was prepared. The sixth over was given to Avesh Khan. Bad call, to begin with, because he doesn’t bowl that well in the Powerplay. So that was an ordinary call,” he observed.
The cricket analyst highlighted that LSG once again played with a different opening combination and also dropped Ayush Badoni and Mukul Choudhary.
“They have decided they won’t let their opening combination settle this year. Now they made Josh Inglis open and moved Aiden Markram down the order. Rishabh Pant isn’t scoring runs. Ayush Badoni and Mukul Choudhary were dropped,” he said.
Chopra questioned LSG for dropping Ayush Badoni and added he fails to understand the franchise’s planning.
“Ayush Badoni was made to open earlier, and now he has been dropped. Why they are doing this is beyond my understanding. Himmat Singh got out to a no-ball, or else the game would have gotten stuck there. Eventually, Himmat showed the courage and scored runs, but I don’t know what to say about Lucknow’s planning,” Chopra observed.
Lucknow Super Giants will next face Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Lucknow on Thursday.
