Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra wasn’t happy with the Lucknow Super Giants’ batting order against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Eliminator contest, which was played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday. LSG decided to bring in Evin Lewis in place of all-rounder Jason Holder in the final XI.
However, after losing Quinton de Kock early in the run-chase of 208 runs, LSG decided to promote Manan Vohra as a pinch-hitter. Vohra got off to a start as he scored 19 runs but failed to convert it into a substantial score. Subsequently, Deepak Hooda came out to bat at number four.
Hooda and KL Rahul added 96 runs for the third-wicket alliance and then Marcus Stoinis came out to bat at number five. After KL Rahul’s dismissal, Evin Lewis finally got a chance to bat at number six when 35 runs were needed off 18 balls. However, the left-hander could only manage two runs from six balls.
Meanwhile, it is well known that Lewis is a top-order batter and he could have hit the ground running for LSG in the PowerPlay overs. In fact, LSG needed quick runs as they were chasing a huge total of 208 runs but their batting order strategy was a bit baffling.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “We had said that Quinton de Kock has an issue against this team. We thought he will get out to Josh but got out to Siraj. But after that at No. 3, surprise surprise comes Manan Vohra. Personally, I didn’t like that strategy at all.”
“I was thinking, why not Evin Lewis? Why did you play Evin Lewis if you are not sending him at No. 3? Were you holding him back thinking that Maxwell will get away with overs there but Maxwell will bowl to Rahul also, he will hit him there. Even though Vohra played a good short 19-run knock but because of that Evin Lewis slipped too low down the order.”
On the other hand, the renowned commentator believes KL Rahul was batting extremely slowly at the start of the innings, which did put his team under pressure as they were chasing a gargantuan score of 208 runs.
“KL Rahul was playing extremely slowly at the start, was trying to take it deep. Deepak Hooda came, hurricane Hooda, he was good. If you talk about the find of the tournament from Lucknow’s viewpoint, it has to be Deepak Hooda, he has batted extremely well. He allowed KL Rahul to be.”
Former KKR player observed Rahul was attacking the fast bowlers and he played the spinners cautiousl.
“When KL Rahul started hitting, there was a pattern to his game. He was quiet against spin and was demolishing the fast bowlers. He hit very good sixes against the fast bowlers and one off Wanindu Hasaranga as well but there will be a question – was the run chase planned properly? The batting order was not right in my opinion.”
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