Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra expects Rajasthan Royals (RR) spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to do well in familiar home conditions in his side’s IPL 2024 Qualifier 2 clash against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). However, both sides will square off at Chepauk in Chennai on Friday, May 24 as well. While RR will come after a four-wicket win against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), SRH faced an eight-wicket loss at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “Win the toss and bowl first. Whoever bowls first, the scales will be tilted towards them, and there will be slight help for their spinners as well, and no one has taken more wickets than Ravichandran Ashwin at Chepauk. Ravichandran Ashwin will be at home totally. If it’s a slightly turning pitch, Rajasthan’s eight overs of spin could dominate the game. Although he will also have (Yuzvendra) Chahal and Trent Boult with the new ball with him, and I feel Sandeep (Sharma) will also have a big role here, I am still focusing on Ravichandran Ashwin because he is bowling well, taking wickets, and might get a chance to score runs if he is promoted while batting first,” the former India opener added.
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However, Ashwin has picked up nine wickets at an economy rate of 8.31 in 13 innings in IPL 2024 as well. Seven of those wickets have come in the last four innings, which also included his best spell of 3/24 against the Delhi Capitals in Delhi on May 7. Aakash Chopra then picked Sanju Samson ahead of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tom Kolher-Cadmore as the first Rajasthan Royals batter in focus the all-important match against SunRisers Hyderabad.
“Yashasvi, although he has played comparatively better while chasing and scored a hundred against Mumbai, hasn’t looked that confident. The feet movement hasn’t been as good as I and he would have liked. The dominance and surety with which he was batting against England, he hasn’t batted like that here. So my first focus will not be on the two openers – Tom Kolher-Cadmore and Yashasvi. My focus will be Sanju Samson. He has played spin well this year otherwise, got out only once, that was against Karn Sharma in the last match. Whether they get to bat first or second, Sanju Samson must score runs. He has scored a lot of runs against this team although he got out for zero last time,” he further added.
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“The second player is Riyan Parag, although you have the cushion of Shimron Heymyer and Rovman Powell now. Riyan Parag has had a good season. He is a mighty player and you can again focus on him on this pitch. He has been very good and played well in the last match, and if he plays well in this match as well, the scales get tilted more towards Rajasthan Royals,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
