Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned the Delhi Capitals’ (DC) decision to demote an in-form Sarfaraz Khan in the batting order against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Khan, who scored an unbeaten 36 in their last match against the Lucknow Super Giants, did not get to bat against KKR. However, Delhi posted 215/5 on the board.
While reflecting on the Delhi Capitals’ batting performance in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said: “There was a question in my mind. Where is Sarfaraz? Why did you play the kid? He batted well in the last match and they kept on demoting him. He was sitting wearing the pads and they didn’t send him to bat. I hope someone placed an arm on his shoulder and said ‘sorry’.”
Chopra elaborated: “Prithvi Shaw and David Warner were absolutely sensational to begin with. Kolkata were seen rubbing their hands and the two of them were seen frying the bowlers. It was a fantastic opening partnership. Pant also came and opened his arms. In the end, Axar was also there with Shardul.”
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Aakash Chopra also pointed out that the Delhi Capitals batters took on Pat Cummins. Meanwhile, spinner Sunil Narine did well as he returned with the figures of 2/21. While Cummins went wicketless and gave away 51 runs in his four-over spell, Umesh Yadav too failed to do well with the ball.
“Sunil Narine was very good, he bowled well. Varun Chakravarthy was alright, he also bowled well. Umesh Yadav should have got more than one wicket but his performance was also alright. Cummins got hit a lot, he has scored an individual century in two matches. Khaleel Ahmed was absolutely outstanding, I think he was brilliant, just like Arshdeep in the last match on this ground. Kuldeep Yadav was once again exceptional. Pant’s bat has still not fired but still, the team’s performance has been good because it was the sum of all parts,” Aakash Chopra added.
Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra has named Kuldeep Yadav as the star performer for Delhi in their match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Yadav returned with the figures of 4/35 as Rishabh Pant’s side registered a fine 44-run win as well.
While reviewing the DC-KKR encounter in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said: “We saw an amazing performance from Kuldeep. It was a high-scoring encounter and whenever there were problems, the ball was given to Kuldeep Yadav and he delivered. Kuldeep has already made significant contributions in this tournament.”
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He further added: “Kuldeep Yadav said that I was there with you for three years, I was asking you to release me but you were not releasing me, you were not playing me as well, kept me on the bench, today I came in front of you and I showed you what stuff I am made of. Kuldeep Yadav picked up four wickets. He was absolutely sensational. He bowled at different stages, it was not that he did restrictive bowling in the middle overs, he is held back till the end nowadays, earlier it was for Pollard and here for Russell.”
“He dismissed Shreyas Iyer, he picked up wickets one after the other. Four wickets in a four-over spell in which the first over was actually expensive. After that, continuously picking up wickets and two-three wickets in the last over, once even running and taking a diving catch himself, that was actually the final nail in the coffin,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
