Prior to Saturday’s match between the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), Aakash Chopra voiced his concerns about Yashasvi Jaiswal’s poor performance in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
The third IPL match will take place on Saturday at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. Prior to the pivotal match, the former India opener evaluated Rajasthan’s performance in the competition thus far and discussed players to keep an eye on. Yashasvi is going through a dry spell in the IPL 2024, Chopra noted.
After a great season with the bat in the lucrative league the previous year, the southpaw gained widespread recognition. His remarkable talent won him praise from everybody as he made his Test and Twenty20 international debuts for India. The opening batsman, however, has found the 2024 Indian Premier League extremely difficult, as he has only managed to score 63 runs at a pitiful average of 12.60 from five matches.
“Yashasvi is not at all scoring runs.” The bats of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, and Riyan Parag are flying; in the last game, Riyan Parag and Sanju Samson hit a lot of runs. However, Yashasvi, what has happened to you? I’ll move on from Yashasvi. In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Chopra claimed, “I focus on him in every game and he doesn’t score runs.”
The 46-year-old decided to concentrate first on Jos Buttler, the captain of England’s Twenty20 team, in the Punjab vs. Rajasthan match. In Rajasthan’s fourth match of the season against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Buttler struck his sixth IPL century (100* off 58 balls). Nevertheless, the veteran has only scored 43 runs in the remaining four games. Punjab’s dangerous new-ball combination of Arshdeep Singh and Kagiso Rabada might be stopped, according to Chopra, if the wicketkeeper-batter strikes at the top of the bat.
Jos Buttler is my main target because he has the power to change the outcome of the game if he strikes against the new ball and eliminates the threat that Arshdeep Singh and Kagiso Rabada pose. Jos Buttler will therefore start as my first choice. He hasn’t done anything else but play really well in one knock and score a hundred in his 100th game, Chopra continued.
In addition to his excellent batting, Riyan Parag is also getting lucky. Aakash Chopra
Following Buttler, Chopra selected Riyan Parag as the player to watch out for. With 261 runs from five games at an average of 87 and a strike rate of 158.18, the Assam captain has been in excellent form. After Virat Kohli, he is the IPL 2024 run scorer with the second-highest average.
“Since he is Riyan Parag, that is the player I am going with as my second choice. Not only is he hitting so brilliantly these days, but luck is also on his side. Though he had the chance, he chose not to approach Rashid Khan. I will thus concentrate on Riyan Parag,” he declared.
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According to Chopra, in the first few overs, the ball can swing at the location. Because of his skill in skillfully moving the fresh ball, he identified Trent Boult as the third player to watch out for. The hitter from Delhi believed that the pacers would have a greater effect on the game than the spinners.
In my opinion, Trent Boult, a quick bowler, would be the best choice for the third player, as the ball is likely to swing little in Mullanpur. Your speedier bowlers should take center stage as the ball swings, as spin will become less significant. Trent Boult, Nandre Burger, Avesh Khan, and Kuldeep Sen are just a few of the many ones they have currently, Chopra added.