On Tuesday, April 28, the Punjab Kings will play the Rajasthan Royals at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh. Former India opener Aakash Chopra stated prior to the high-stakes match that the Royals have relied too much on their top three hitters, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
With a strike rate of 112.83 and an average of 12.57, captain Riyan Parag has only managed 88 runs in eight innings. Donovan Ferreira and Shimron Hetmyer are two examples of people who have flattered to lie.
“The overreliance on the top three is one of your problems. Runs haven’t been scored at Nos. 4, 5, and 6. Riyan Parag has scored 88 runs in eight matches. He will have to walk the talk. We say we are good, he is a good player, but he doesn’t have form. So you will have to accept that the form isn’t good. If Nos. 4, 5, and 6 don’t score the runs, for how long will the top three keep you relevant?” he said on his YouTube channel.
The former cricket player who is now a broadcaster brought up the most recent match in which Vaibhav Sooryavanshi got a century off 35 balls, but the other batsmen were unable to establish their dominance in the last overs after he was removed. Chopra also compared the batting lineups of the Gujarat Titans and the Rajasthan Royals.
“In the last match as well, the runs got chased. You should have reached close to 250, and you were left 25 runs behind. So you understand that there is a middle-order problem, as Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored a hundred, and then the last four overs. For a variety of reasons, their batting and the Gujarat Titans’ batting look similar,” he observed.
“It’s a battle between the openers on both sides” – Aakash Chopra on PBKS vs RR clash
Chopra predicted that both teams’ openers would compete in Tuesday’s match. For Punjab, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have given it their best. However, Yashasvi and Sooryavanshi have also given the inaugural champions some scorching starts.
“It’s a battle between the openers on both sides. Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya are on one side, and Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryananshi are on the other side. So it’s going to be a good game of cricket. It will be bat vs bat at the start,” he said.
According to Chopra, if the Rajasthan Royals want to break the Punjab Kings’ winning streak, they must play at their best.
“Rajasthan will try to stop Punjab somehow, which looks almost impossible. Let’s see if there is any team that can stop Punjab’s winning run. I am not sure whether even Rajasthan can do that job. I am not 100 percent certain,” Chopra stated.
