IPL 2020: Rajasthan Royals are still making changes, searching for their ideal XI - Aakash Chopra on RR's loss against DC
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has opined that Rajasthan Royals (RR) have been consistently making changes to their playing XI in IPL 2020 as they have not been able to figure out their ideal combination.
He made this observation while reviewing the Steve Smith-led side's loss against the Delhi Capitals (DC) in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
Aakash Chopra highlighted that Rajasthan Royals had made a couple of personnel changes for yesterday's encounter:
"Rajasthan Royals won the toss and went into the match with some team changes. They played Andrew Tye and made Tom Curran sit out. They also left Ankit Rajpoot and played Varun Aaron, so they made two changes."
The reputed commentator observed that Rajasthan Royals have not been able to figure out their perfect playing combination. This is something that is clearly evident by the number of changes they have been making, with Ben Stokes' unavailability till now hitting them hard.
"Rajasthan Royals are still going on making changes, just searching for their ideal XI. I can totally understand, when you are not winning then you start figuring out. Ben Stokes was still not available for this encounter."
He pointed out that Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, is a settled unit who went into the game with the same combination as their previous match.
"Delhi Capitals said that they don't need to make any changes as their team is good. They are missing Mishra but they can still manage and don't need to do anything else."
Aakash Chopra stated that Rajasthan Royals had made a bright start with the ball, even inflicting a couple of run-outs.
"Rajasthan Royals made a good start, they looked desperate at the beginning, which was a very good thing. They got two run outs in the top 4, Shreyas Iyer and Pant, with the Shreyas Iyer direct hit being quality."
The former KKR player lauded Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmeyer Axar Patel and Harshal Patel for taking Delhi Capitals to a decent total, although it was the lowest first innings score at Sharjah in this edition of the IPL.
"It seemed at one point that the Delhi Capitals innings will go down the hill but Stoinis and Hetmeyer batted very well and then Axar and Harshal Patel took them to 184, which is not that bad a total but to put it in perspective, this was the first match when the first innings score at Sharjah was less than 200."
Aakash Chopra on the Rajasthan Royals run chase
Aakash Chopra observed that although the Rajasthan Royals might have felt that they would be able to chase down the target, their batting has still not clicked even after the first couple of matches.
"Rajasthan Royals would have been very happy that they would chase down the target. But how will they chase, what has happened in their batting is that if you ignore the first two matches and you keep that one knock from Buttler aside, no one has made runs after those two matches."
He mentioned that Jos Buttler was done in by Ravichandran Ashwin while the young Yashasvi Jaiswal was a little slow to get off the blocks.
"Buttler got dismissed by Ashwin, Yashasvi was playing a little slow but you can understand as he is a young kid and was trying his best to stay there and fight."
The 43-year-old highlighted that Steve Smith and Sanju Samson have failed to deliver for the Rajasthan Royals in their last four matches.
"Steve Smith did not play a bad shot but Hetmeyer is an amazing fielder. Samson again did not score, so both he and Smith have had 4 innings."
The former opener then pointed out that Delhi Capitals had registered a facile victory despite the best efforts of Rahul Tewatia down the order.
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"Tewatia came down the order and he is the only guy who looked in decent form but it turned out to be a one-sided contest."
Aakash Chopra signed off by lauding all the Delhi Capitals bowlers and predicting that the franchise will finish the league phase at the top of the IPL 2020 points table, a place they currently occupy.
"All the Delhi Capitals bowled very well and this team is looking absolutely top-class. I will keep on saying that Delhi Capitals will finish at the top of the points table after the league phase and that is where they are with 5 wins from 6 matches."
Delhi Capitals have emerged as one of the strongest contenders for the IPL 2020 title. Their clash against the Mumbai Indians on Sunday will likely be a mouth-watering affair.
Rajasthan Royals, on the contrary, are stuck at the 7th position in the IPL 2020 points table. They will have to pull up their socks soon if they want to harbour any hopes of making it through to the playoffs.