IPL 2025: KKR's batting order bewilders Aakash Chopra
What's the story
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has voiced his confusion over Kolkata Knight Riders's batting line-up after their narrow defeat to Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens in IPL 2025.
The match, played on April 8, witnessed LSG post a challenging target of 239 runs for KKR.
Despite a strong start, the home team fell short by four runs, ending their innings at 234/7.
Order confusion
Chopra questions KKR's batting order
In a video on his YouTube channel, Chopra questioned why Ramandeep Singh and Impact Player Angkrish Raghuvansi were sent in ahead of Andre Russell and Rinku Singh in the run-chase.
"I am still unable to understand this team's batting order," he said. "Even if you are seeing five or seven balls, you are doing wrong there as well."
He suggested KKR should consider sending Rinku up the order more often.
Performance analysis
Rinku's performance highlights batting order debate
Rinku's heroics only intensified the debate around KKR's batting order.
Despite being pushed down the order, he scored an unbeaten 38 off just 15 balls.
In the last over, he scored 14 runs despite being off the strike. KKR required 24 runs in the final over.
Chopra feels had Rana given Rinku more strike in those crucial moments, KKR could have won instead of losing by four runs.
Player appraisal
Chopra praises Rahane and Iyer's performances
Chopra also lauded Ajinkya Rahane for his brilliant innings of 61 runs off 35 balls. He appreciated Rahane's free-flowing batting and brilliant use of his bottom hand.
He also appreciated Venkatesh Iyer's contribution with a brilliant 45-run knock off 29 balls after being promoted in the batting order.
However, despite these brilliant individual performances, KKR couldn't win against LSG due to their 'ordinary' bowling performance.
Impact Player
How Impact Player Raghuvanshi fared
Angkrish Raghuvanshi came in as an Impact Player for KKR in the run-chase. He replaced Varun Chakravarthy.
In a surprising decision, Raghuvanshi came in when KKR were down to 166/4. He was sent in ahead of Russell and Rinku when KKR required 73 runs off 36 balls.
Although Raghuvanshi scored a boundary, he fell to Avesh Khan for a 4-ball 5.