Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are overreliant on KL Rahul in the Indian batting department. With 431 runs at a strike rate of 141.31 in 11 innings, he is their highest run-scorer in IPL 2024. However, LSG will face the SRH in a crucial game in Hyderabad on Wednesday, May 8 and both teams will try to win.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “The first is like a broken record. You can write KL Rahul’s name there because everything depends on him. Please score runs because no other Indian player has scored too many runs and doesn’t seem like scoring as well. So KL Rahul will be expected to score runs. If there are any weaknesses visible in the opposing team’s bowling, which to be fair have been seen in this entire season barring the last two games where Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been sensational, capitalize on that. So KL Rahul is No. 1.”
Aakash Chopra also chose Nicholas Pooran as another crucial player for the team. With 315 runs at a strike rate of 159.09 in 11 innings, Pooran is LSG’s third-highest run-getter this season as well. He has aggregated only 35 runs in his last three innings and will want to play a
key knock against the SunRisers Hyderabad.
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“The second player I am thinking about is Nicholas Pooran. He has been slightly cold in the last two or three matches and you want his bat to fire. He has a massive role if this team has to post or chase down a big score. So I am going with him as my second player to watch out for,” Chopra explained.
However, Aakash Chopra also urged the Lucknow Super Giants to play either Kyle Mayers or Quinton de Kock in Ashton Turner’s place as well. He also picked Marcus Stoinis as the third LSG player in focus against SRH as well.
“If Kyle Mayers is available, play him. If Quinton de Kock has become available, play him because you are not gaining anything by playing Ashton Turner. The number at which you play him, there is no chance of him doing anything. Arshin (Kulkarni) is a good cricketer but I feel you are wasting an overseas slot,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “When I see this team’s bowling, some patches of brilliance are visible, but you don’t see consistent performances to say this is my guy, which it seemed like with Mayank (Yadav) but he isn’t there anymore. So Marcus Stoinis as the third player. He bowls and bats, and is looking in good form. If this team has to win, Marcus will have to hit hard.”
