Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has added that finding a replacement for Khaleel Ahmed would be one of the questions for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) prior to their IPL 2026 clash against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). He also added that the five-time champions might also want to work on their batting depth issue with that selection as well.
However, CSK will play against SRH in the 27th game of IPL 2026 in Hyderabad on Saturday, April 18. Notably, both sides have four points from five games, with the home team placed three places higher at fifth in the points table due to a better net run rate as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Who will come in place of Khaleel Ahmed? Whom will you select in this game? Will you get Mukesh Choudhary in his place, or will you want to get Ghosh because your batting is ending at No. 7? Jamie Overton shouldn’t be at No. 7. He is a No. 8 batter. It hasn’t made a difference thus far, but it possibly can.”
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“You want to complete a hat-trick of wins. You want to do what GT have done. You need to stitch those victories together, but Ruturaj Gaikwad’s form, that’s a question for sure, because Ayush Mhatre is breathing down his neck,” he shared.
However, Aakash Chopra also wondered whether the SunRisers Hyderabad could include Liam Livingstone in their playing XI against the Chennai Super Kings.
“There is only one thing for Hyderabad. Can you think about Liam Livingstone because they are constantly playing with three overseas players? Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, and Eshan Malinga play there. So Livingstone could be the fourth, or Dilshan Madushanka is available now,” he said.
“You can think about him, though they now have Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain. That’s good news there. The focus used to be on Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, and Nitish Kumar Reddy earlier. The focus has shifted slightly to the two new kids, who took center stage in the previous game. Shivang Kumar is bowling very well. I see him being used well in the middle,” Chopra concluded.
