Aakash Chopra, a former player for India, has questioned the Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) batting order following their defeat by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the 2025 Indian Premier League. He noted that during their innings, Nitish Rana, one of their best players against spin, only got to play one ball.
On Sunday, April 13, in Match 28 of the IPL 2025 in Jaipur, RR set RCB a target of 174 runs after Rana hit a four off the final delivery of the 20th over, the only ball he faced. In order to keep their perfect record of winning away games, the visitors reached the goal with nine wickets and fifteen deliveries remaining.
Aakash Chopra questioned RR’s fixation on a left-right batting combination after considering their batting performance against RCB in their IPL 2025 match.
“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.”
Aakash Chopra
“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.”
Aakash Chopra
In their IPL 2025 match against RCB, RR promoted Dhruv Jurel before Nitish Rana and Shimron Hetmyer, with Yashasvi Jaiswal batting at one end. The wicketkeeper-batter’s poor start stopped the innings’ momentum even though he scored an undefeated 35 from 23 deliveries.
Aakash Chopra Raises Questions Over RR’s Approach After RCB Defeat
Aakash Chopra questioned whether the Rajasthan Royals believed that 165 runs would be sufficient in their IPL 2025 matchup with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the same video.
“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.”
Aakash Chopra
The cricket player-turned-commentator went on to say that Sanju Samson and colleagues would have realized their mistaken thinking if RCB had won easily.
“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.”
Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra concluded by saying that RR would have learned a lot from the situation and should have sent the appropriate player instead of the left-right combination. The analyst went on to say that, given their performance this season, he wouldn’t be shocked if RR fell farther down the points table.
