Nitish Rana’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be locking horns with winless Delhi Capitals (DC) in Delhi on Thursday, April 20. Ahead of the crucial game for the visitors, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra suggested bringing in either Jason Roy or Litton Das in place of the struggling Afghan batter, Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
The two-time IPL champions suffered a comprehensive loss against Mumbai Indians (MI) in their previous fixture, despite a swashbuckling century from Venkatesh Iyer. Aakash Chopra reckons that KKR opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz doesn’t deserve to be in the XI ahead of Jason Roy or Litton Das after a series of underwhelming performances.
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Gurbaz has managed just one fifty in his five outings in IPL 2023 and has been one of the weak links at the top of the order for the Kolkata-based franchise. Chopra further elaborated saying that KKR has enough power-hitters in the middle order, with Venkatesh Iyer and skipper Nitish Rana also in good touch.
In the latest video on his Youtube channel, Aakash Chopra said, “The batting is looking sorted. I am now saying bye-bye to Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Bring in, Jason Roy or Litton Das. Jagadeesan can keep it for you in any case. So you can keep either of them as an opener. Venkatesh Iyer is batting like a dream, so that dream may continue. Nitish Rana is looking good.”
He further added, “One match went bad – the last one, but he plays well and this is his home ground as well. He plays first-class cricket from here only. Then you have Rinku Singh and Andre Russell – the batting is looking good.”
Kolkata Knight Riders are looking to halt their two-match losing streak and Aakash Chopra reckons that the visitors are favorites to win the game, meaning a sixth successive loss is on the cards for David Warner’s men.
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Elaborating the same, Aakash Chopra said, “Kolkata will be heavy favorites if they get to bowl first after winning the toss. So will Delhi lose a sixth consecutive match – chances are there because Kolkata have the better team. May the best team win.”
