"Neither I nor you know why he is playing at No. 4" - Aakash Chopra questions Riyan Parag's batting position for Rajasthan Royals ahead of CSK clash
Aakash Chopra has questioned the Rajasthan Royals (RR) for persisting with an underperforming Riyan Parag and batting him up the order in IPL 2023.
The Royals will lock horns with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Chennai on Wednesday, April 12. Parag batted at No. 4 in RR's last game against the Delhi Capitals (DC) and was castled by Rovman Powell, scoring just seven runs off 11 balls.
While reflecting on the Rajasthan Royals' probable batting lineup for Wednesday's game, Chopra was unsure why last year's finalists are playing Parag at No. 4, saying:
"You are still playing Riyan Parag at No. 4. Neither I nor you know why he is playing at No. 4, only Rajasthan know that. It is certain that Riyan will hit one day. He even tweeted that he will hit four sixes in as many balls in this IPL, it might be today evening."
The former Indian opener pointed out that in-form players like Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer are batting below the Assam all-rounder and Devdutt Padikkal has even been dropped from the team, elaborating:
"It is not going to be easy, that is certain. But batting at No. 4 - Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer are batting well and you are pushing them down the order. You dropped Devdutt Padikkal in a jiffy but here you have stuck with one player. There is so much investment of trust, I really hope that Riyan starts repaying it."
Parag has scored 34 runs in his three outings in IPL 2023 thus far. He has a top score of 20 and a below-par strike rate of 117.24.
"Jos Buttler is absolutely gun" - Aakash Chopra feels the law of averages can go against the Rajasthan Royals opener
![Jos Buttler smashed 79 runs off 51 balls in Rajasthan Royals' win against the Delhi Capitals. [P/C: iplt20.com]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/04/d25e0-16812839344085-1920.jpg?w=500)
Speaking about some of the other Rajasthan Royals batters, Aakash Chopra highlighted that Jos Buttler enjoys an excellent overall record against CSK, stating:
"Jos Buttler is absolutely gun. The only thing against him is the law of averages because his numbers against this team are very good. He has always scored runs against them but if he is coming after scoring runs in every match, so the guy will get out sometime at least. That's the only thing that goes against him."
On the flip side, the cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that Sanju Samson has an indifferent record against the four-time champions, observing:
"Yashasvi Jaiswal is playing extremely well. You might get to see spin here against him because the fast bowling is slightly weak in any case. Interestingly, Sanju Samson's numbers against this team are extremely ordinary. I don't know why."
Buttler has amassed 267 runs at an average of 53.40 and a strike rate of 146.70 in seven games against CSK.
Samson, on the other hand, has aggregated 197 runs at an average of 16.41 and a strike rate of 120.85 in 12 innings for the Rajasthan Royals against MS Dhoni and Co.