PBKS need an Indian spinner alongside Rahul Chahar: Aakash Chopra
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra feels the Punjab Kings (PBKS) need to land a quality spinner in the Indian Premier League 2023 auction. He believes they need to make use of their huge purse to find a tweaker to partner leg-spinner Rahul Chahar.
Punjab have left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar among the retained players, but Chopra feels they haven't played him much alongside Chahar to form a strike partnership. He believes they need to take advantage of their kitty and bully other teams in bidding wars while going for a spinner in the auction.
In a video on his YouTube channel, here's what Aakash Chopra had to say about PBKS needing a spinner:
"They need an Indian spinner alongside Rahul Chahar. But what's the use if you don't often play Harpreet Brar alongside him? If you have so much money, why don't you spend it on a quality spinner?"
Aakash Chopra on PBKS' death bowling
Aakash Chopra feels PBKS' star left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh might need some extra help from another Indian option, especially at the death. Although the team has foreign options in Kagiso Rabada and Nathan Ellis, Chopra reckons they need to have quality Indian pacers.
On this, he stated:
"They might need a death bowler because although I rate Nathan Ellis highly, just having him, Rabada and Arshdeep may not be enough. They will need a good Indian option, but there aren't many available."
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Chopra also feels Punjab have a lot of top-order batters, but not enough depth in the lower middle order. He opined that the likes of Shahrukh Khan and Jitesh Sharma need a cushion down the order. The cricketer-turned-commentator added:
"They will also like to have a quality lower-order batter. The likes of [Jonny] Bairstow, [Liam] Livingstone, [Shikhar] Dhawan and [Bhanuka] Rajapaksa all bat in the top order. So along with Shahrukh Khan and Jitesh Sharma, you need one more finisher down the order."
It will be interesting to see if Punjab can finally build a stable team combination after the IPL 2023 auction.