Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that the Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) chase against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in Qualifier 2 might be the best in the league’s knockout history. He stated that the PBKS chased down a huge target in a knockout game despite Jasprit Bumrah’s presence in the opposition bowling lineup. Notably, MI set a 204-run target and PBKS chased the target down with five wickets and an over in hand as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “A 200-plus total, and the opposing team had Jasprit Bumrah. 200 runs are not chased in a knockout game. This might be the best run chase in knockout history because 200 is not chased that easily. You get out, something happens for sure. A wicket fell at the start as well. Prabhsimran Singh got out.”
“Josh Inglis came to bat at No. 3. I think that one Jasprit Bumrah over – 20 runs, two fours and two sixes – wow. Josh Inglis takes down Jasprit Bumrah. I think that was a statement of intent, that you might have scored 200 runs, but we believe that we can chase it down, and that is phenomenal,” he shared again.
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However, Aakash Chopra also said that Trent Boult dropping Nehal Wadhera’s catch early in his innings proved costly for MI as well.
“Priyansh Arya and Josh Inglis got out, and Nehal Wadhera came with Shreyas Iyer. There was a Nehal Wadhera moment. That was actually a big moment where Boult dropped a catch, and it also went for a four. He was on 13 then. 17 runs came in that over, and after that, the run chase they did. These two batters had an 84-run partnership, and Nehal Wadhera scored 48 of that. People won’t talk, they will forget. The way Nehal Wadhera batted, he kept hitting. The game awareness was outstanding. Whenever you felt the pressure was mounting, and Nehal had to hit, he did that,” he shared.
“Nehal Wadhera did gold standard batting. He was part of Mumbai earlier, and is now with Punjab. He also plays Ranji Trophy for Punjab. He is a very, very talented kid. He might fly under the radar because big names are discussed more, but I think he has played a phenomenal role,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
