Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra questioned Rajasthan Royals’ batting order after they suffered a nine-wicket loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur on Sunday.
Asked to bat first by RCB captain Rajat Patidar, the inaugural champions posted 173-4, which proved to be under-par in the end. Chopra noted that Nitish Rana, who is one of RR’s most prominent batters against the spinners, was sent out to bat at number six. Rana smashed a four on the first ball he faced, which was also the last ball of the innings.
Earlier in the tournament, Rana scored a fine knock of 81 runs off just 36 balls against Chennai Super Kings while batting at one down.
“Why such a left-right obsession? Why do I ask this question? If you compare players with spin-playing ability, I think Nitish Rana is right up there. If you try to find two or three Rajasthan batters with the ability to play spin, he will be there. He had come after having already scored runs in one match,” Chopra said in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
“He scored runs against Chennai, and they have good spinners. However, you moved him so low in the batting order. You sent him for one ball. You said you needed a left-right combination. You sent Dhruv Jurel up the order, and he scored five runs off his first 10 balls,” Chopra added.
The renowned commentator questioned RR’s batting tactics and also didn’t understand the franchise’s obsession of backing right-left hand batting combination.
“You were wondering whether the team had thought they needed to score only 165 and that whatever runs were scored above that were extra. All of us were thinking whether that was right. Yashasvi (Jaiswal) played very well and scored runs, which is great. However, you didn’t seize the opportunity to score runs because you needed left-right,” he said.
Chopra highlighted that RCB’s easy win would have made RR realize that their strategy was wrong.
“With Rajasthan, sometimes you feel paralysis by analysis. They overcomplicate things slightly. In the end, when Phil Salt’s assault came and (Virat) Kohli stood till the end and you lost the match by nine wickets, you realized that you didn’t read the pitch properly,” Chopra observed.
RR will next take on Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday.
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