IPL 2020 | KKR should have opened with Rahul Tripathi instead of Sunil Narine, opines Aakash Chopra

Kolkata Knight Riders’ batting order has been quite trivial since the start of the season. At the top, Sunil Narine’s diminishing return as an opener has caused them issues, with a large burden on the shoulders of the young Shubman Gill. Against Delhi Capitals, the franchise opted to play an extra batsman in the form of Rahul Tripathi, who replaced the left-arm unorthodox spinner, Kuldeep Yadav. During the run-chase, the franchise still persisted to Gill and Narine at the top of the order, with Tripathi sent in at No.8 behind Pat Cummins. 

Following the loss, former Indian opener turned cricket expert Aakash Chopra opined that KKR should have very well utilised the opener, Rahul Tripathi, at the top of the order instead of persisting with the diminishing returns of Narine as an opener.

“KKR could have chased down the 229-run target. You played an extra batsman in Rahul Tripathi instead of Kuldeep Yadav. But if you have played him, you should have opened with him. You are opening with Narine and that experiment is not working,” Chopra said in his Youtube channel, reported Hindustan Times.

In equal measures, the former opener also showed his frustration over the role given to the southpaw Eoin Morgan. When Morgan walked in, the game was already slipping right away from the hands of the franchise, who were struggling against the Delhi outfit. However, in a short span of time, the English batsman changed the outlook of the game with his quickfire innings. Although he was on the losing end, Chopra stated that Morgan is a ‘runaway match-winner’ and should play higher up the order. 

“It is beyond my understanding why KKR is not giving enough batting to Eoin Morgan. Their batting order is not working at this point of time. Morgan is a runaway match-winner. If you see his record from 2019, he is batting at a strike rate of 170. And in this team also, he has been stunning in the last match as well as this match.”