Prior to the Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) IPL 2025 matchup with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), former India player Aakash Chopra has identified Rishabh Pant’s inconsistent play as one of the team’s worries. He questioned if the LSG captain was simply going through a lean period or if he was giving in to the strain of captaincy.
On Tuesday, April 8, in the afternoon, LSG will play KKR in Match 21 of the 2025 Indian Premier League in Kolkata. So far in the tournament, Pant has amassed a pitiful 19 runs at a miserable average of 4.75 in four innings.
On Tuesday, April 8, in the afternoon, LSG will play KKR in Match 21 of the 2025 Indian Premier League in Kolkata. So far in the tournament, Pant has amassed a pitiful 19 runs at a miserable average of 4.75 in four innings.
The former India opener stated in a video posted on his YouTube channel, “Aakash Chopra,” that Pant needs to get back to scoring runs because he is unlikely to advance in the batting order.
“They (LSG) have a few more problems as compared to KKR. Firstly, the captain is not scoring runs. Is he getting suppressed under the pressure of money, or is the form not there at all? You were sitting outside in the Champions Trophy as well and hadn’t played competitive cricket for a long time. When you played, you couldn’t score runs.”
Aakash Chopra
“So a question will definitely be there whether something is playing in his mind. His form is a big concern. Many people have been asking whether he should open. It’s too late in the day. I feel (Aiden) Markram and (Mitchell) Marsh will only open. After that, (Nicholas) Pooran will come at No. 3, and Rishabh Pant will come at No. 4 only. So that is not changing, in my opinion. However, he needs to score runs.”
Aakash Chopra
Digvesh Rathi was asked to stop his celebration of getting wickets, which has already resulted in two penalties, by the cricketer-turned-commentator.
“From the bowling perspective, Digvesh Rathi, stop doing the signature celebration. It’s better not to do it instead of paying such a big fine. I am okay with it, personally, but nothing happens because of me being okay. You shouldn’t get banned because you have become this team’s number one spinner at the moment. Ravi Bishnoi hasn’t bowled that well thus far,” Chopra observed.
Prior to their IPL 2025 matchup with KKR, Aakash Chopra believed that LSG’s bowling was their weakest area. But in their last match against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in Lucknow on April 4, he pointed out that their bowlers performed admirably in defending a 204-run mark.
“Is there a case for not opening with Sunil Narine?” – Aakash Chopra on KKR ahead of IPL 2025 clash vs LSG
Aakash Chopra pondered whether the reigning champions should choose not to start Sunil Narine in their IPL 2025 matchup with the Lucknow Super Giants in light of the Kolkata Knight Riders.
“Is there a case for not opening with Sunil Narine? You can open with (Ajinkya) Rahane. An unpopular opinion I shared earlier as well was that Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Rahane are playing a lot of overs in the middle, and the explosive batters are not getting their entire batting.”
Aakash Chopra
The move would enable the highly effective Venkatesh Iyer to bat at No. 4, the analyst continued.
“It’s not mandatory that everyone should get to bat, but if someone has the potential to run at a strike rate of 250, give him 15-25 balls. We saw Venky Iyer playing very well last time, but Venky at No. 5 is a little too low, in my opinion. I have only spoken about removing Narine as an opener so that you can send Rahane up the order and keep Venky at No. 4.”
Aakash Chopra
In their IPL 2025 matchup against LSG, Aakash Chopra asked KKR if they should continue to use Moeen Ali or start Spencer Johnson or Anrich Nortje. He noted that the off-spinner could be helpful against the abundance of left-handers in LSG’s middle order, even though the spin-bowling all-rounder was not given a chance to bowl during their 80-run victory over the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the same location on April 3.
