"That's not ideal for either of them" - Aakash Chopra on Manish Pandey and KS Bharat being required to bat in KKR's lower-middle order if they play
Aakash Chopra reckons the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) might have to bat Manish Pandey and KS Bharat out of position if either of them plays in IPL 2024.
Bharat, who was purchased at his base price of ₹50 lakh, was the Kolkata-based franchise's first buy at the auction. They subsequently acquired Pandey, who was also bought at his base price of ₹50 lakh.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that the Knight Riders won't be able to bat Pandey and Bharat at their ideal batting positions even if they field them in their XI (2:45):
"KS Bharat is your keeping backup, although I don't think they will be able to play him. They will have to get Rahmanullah Gurbaz to open because if he doesn't play and you get Jason Roy to open, you will have to play a keeper in the middle and KS Bharat batting at Nos. 5, 6 or 7 won't be ideal."
The former India opener added:
"Whenever KS Bharat and Manish Pandey play, they will have to bat in the lower-middle order, and that's not ideal for either of them.
"They will have either Rahmanullah Gurbaz or Jason Roy at the top and then Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh, and then a finisher in Andre Russell or Sherfane Rutherford."
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Bharat are the only two wicketkeeper-batters in KKR's squad. They might be forced to play Bharat in the playing XI if they can't field the Afghanistan opener among their four overseas players.
"They had three amazing spinners and had the fourth option available" - Aakash Chopra on KKR's bowling
Reflecting on the Kolkata Knight Riders bowling, Aakash Chopra pointed out that they bolstered their already strong spin-bowling department with the acquisition of Mujeeb Ur Rahman. He said (3:45):
"In bowling, they had three amazing spinners and had the fourth option available - Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Suyash Sharma and Anukul Roy. They have added Mujeeb Ur Rahman to that."
The reputed commentator added that a good Indian core makes KKR a strong side:
"In Indian bowling, their big buy was Chetan Sakariya, which is okay. The team is good. I liked them before the auction as well, and it is good now as well because they have six or seven good Indian players. Their Indian core is proper."
Chopra opined that KKR will do well if they get turning pitches at the Eden Gardens. On the flip side, he added that they would be caught on the back foot if the Kolkata pitch is seamer-friendly.