Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra feels Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis might not open the innings for Royal Challengers in the upcoming Indian Premier League 2024 season due to lack of game time in the recent past.
While Faf hasn’t played a lot since the last IPL, Kohli has been out of action from the Test series against England due to personal reasons.
Meanwhile, Faf led RCB from the front in the previous season as he scored 730 runs in 14 matches of the tournament whereas Virat Kohli scored 639 runs for the franchise. But the team failed to qualify for the playoffs as they finished in sixth place with seven wins and as many losses.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “RCB’s Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli were a very successful pair last year. They may still be very, very good. The only caveat as to why I have not kept them in the top three is that Faf has played very little cricket since the last IPL.”
“If you leave aside one SA20 match, the performance was very ordinary. Virat also hasn’t played since the match against Afghanistan. In such a scenario, if Faf and Virat don’t hit the ground running, it could be a problem. You might see a change in the opening combination,” the former India opener added.
On the other hand, the renowned commentator feels out of favor Prithvi Shaw will be fired up to prove his mettle while opening the innings with David Warner.
“Prithvi Shaw is in very good form. He might be slightly fired up as his name is not coming anywhere. Injuries are spoken about and someone talks about the attitude. However, he is playing now, so you expect him to open here.”
The former Delhi player predicted that Warner would be at his best without the captaincy pressure on his shoulders.
“David Warner will not be the captain this year. He played extremely slow at the start last year. Now, because he is not the captain and there is the security of Rishabh down the order, he could come into his own, as his international cricket is almost tata bye-bye now,” Chopra stated.
IPL 2024 will begin on March 22 with RCB taking on defending champions CSK at Chennai.
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