Former Indian opener, Aakash Chopra has said Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer possibly missing the IPL 2023 is going to be huge blows for Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Pant and Shreyas are the designated captains of both DC and KKR and are considered to be key players for both franchises. While Pant has already been ruled out and replaced by David Warner as skipper of DC, there are still doubts about Shreyas after a recurrence of a back issue.
The Indian batter will miss the ODI series against Australia and his participation in IPL 2023 is a big doubt at the moment. Speaking on his YouTube channel, as quoted by Sportskeeda, Chopra said Pant and Shreyas’ absence will be resulting in huge blows for their respective franchises.
The former cricketer went on to explain and said that replacing the duo would be a tough task for the respective franchises as it is tough to replace players of that such skill sets.
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Explaining the same, Aakash Chopra said, “Shreyas Iyer is an issue because there are question marks over his fitness. He has got back spasms and has missed a lot of cricket. IPL is in doubt. If Rishabh Pant is not there for Delhi and Shreyas Iyer is not there for KKR – these are huge blows.”
He further explained, “I will tell you why. There is only one player like Rishabh Pant in the entire world and you are not going to get an Indian batter like Shreyas Iyer as well. When you are not going to get one and you see this team, you say – ‘Oh gosh, what will happen’.”
Aakash Chopra went on to say that KKR will struggle to find a replacement for Shreyas if he gets ruled out of the IPL 2023 season.
Elaborating the same, Aakash Chopra said, “If we focus on Shreyas, you have Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, and Venkatesh Iyer here, but from where will you get a top-five Indian batter? That is going to be a huge concern.”
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He further explained, “They might have to change their game plan and make Sunil Narine open. Who will do the captaincy? That will be another question. So a lot of questions can come before KKR if he is not available to play a few games in the IPL.”
