Former India player Aakash Chopra has applauded Shashank Singh for playing a brilliant knock in the Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) IPL 2025 win against the Gujarat Titans (GT). He also appreciated him for taking Rashid Khan to the cleaners. However, Shashank smashed an unbeaten 44 off 16 deliveries as PBKS set GT a huge 244-run target in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, March 25 and then restricted the opponent to 232/5 to register an 11-run win as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Shashank Singh, the way he batted. The thing that gets highlighted about him is that he has cricketing smarts. He knows which fielder is standing where and where the bowling will be, and he hits fours according to that. He knew they would bowl short balls against him, so he played the ramp. When they bowled a yorker, he dug it out and hit a four towards cover.”

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“Another thing that got highlighted, which has been happening since last year, was that he took Rashid Khan down. He pulled him when he bowled short, hit him straight when he bowled full and straight, and hit a four towards cover when Rashid Khan went slightly wide,” Chopra added again.

However, Aakash Chopra also praised Priyansh Arya for giving the Punjab Kings a flying start against the Gujarat Titans.

“Priyansh Arya bats left-handed and has come after hitting six sixes in an over in the Delhi Premier League. He has got wonderful hands. He stays inside the line of the ball and accesses the off side extremely well. He plays with courage. Arshad Khan dropped a catch, which was probably a slightly game-changing kind of thing,” he said.

“However, he kept hitting fours, and I thought he would score a fifty on debut, but he got trapped against Rashid Khan. He plays very well on the off side, but he hit a straight drive. If someone can hit a straight four like that, he has got the quality. If you can play well against Siraj, Prasidh and Rabada, you have got the quality,” Chopra concluded.