Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has added that the Gujarat Titans’ (GT) poor start compromised their total in their IPL 2024 defeat to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). They set a 201-run target in Ahmedabad on Sunday, April 28 which RCB chased down with nine wickets and four overs to spare as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “They played extremely slow in the first six overs. It seemed at that stage that it was a very slow pitch, the ball wasn’t coming nicely onto the bat, but you still need to score runs. You have to run a little faster but the Gujarat team didn’t do that. If you see Gujarat’s start and end, you see problems on both sides. They neither ran first at the start nor at the end. So even if you play decently in the middle, it isn’t enough.”
However, the Titans were decently placed at 24/1 after three overs but managed only 23 runs and also lost skipper Shubman Gill’s wicket in the next four overs. They managed only 75 runs in the last seven overs despite having eight wickets in hand, with the usually destructive David Miller taking 19 deliveries for his unbeaten 26 as well. However, Aakash Chopra applauded Sai Sudharsan for continuing his consistent run for the Gujarat Titans as well.
He also praised Shahrukh Khan for showcasing his destructive abilities. He smashed 58 runs off 30 deliveries with the help of three fours
and five sixes as well. The Tamil Nadu right-handed batter and Sudharsan added 86 runs for the third wicket in just 7.3 overs after the
Gujarat Titans were reduced to 45/2 as well.
“Sai Sudharsan needs to be praised. He has become the second name for consistency. There is probably only one knock in this season where he hasn’t scored runs. He is a 30-run bank. He plays clean cricket and doesn’t try to hit the ball hard. I love this guy. He couldn’t score a century but it’s fine. Shahrukh Khan – he changed the direction of the winds. He came completely out of syllabus from RCB’s viewpoint. We had said that you should play Shahrukh. You had bought him at the auction but he was sitting outside. You were going towards Vijay Shankar and Abhinav Manohar, this kid is good, so try him at least, and when they did, he did an incredible job,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
