Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has questioned Rajasthan Royals’ think tank for their continuous changes in the batting order in the ongoing IPL 2025. Chopra feels RR is over backing the idea of right and left-hand batters and they must get their batting order right.
In the last match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Nitish Rana, who is known for his good game against the spinners, batted a solitary delivery. Similarly, the batting positions of Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer have been consistently chopped and changed by RR.
“Left-right is good, but left-right is not the be-all and end-all of your life, that you need left-right no matter what happens. You kept Shimron Hetmyer down the order one day because a right-hander would be sent if a right-hander had been dismissed. After that, you sent Wanindu Hasaranga up the order one day,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“You didn’t make Nitish Rana bat one day. You sent Dhruv Jurel up the order as you wanted a left-right combination. It doesn’t make sense. Why are you complicating things? However, that’s been Rajasthan’s story, they tend to overcomplicate things. You will repeatedly hear ‘paralysis by analysis’ when I preview or review a Rajasthan game,” he added.
Speaking on Rajasthan Royals’ bowling attack, Chopra reckons they have a decent pace battery.
“If we talk about the bowling, they are an okay side. Jofra Archer is good. Sandeep Sharma is good in patches. He might not be that good if you ask him to bowl with the new ball. Tushar Deshpande is a good bowler, but he tends to be a little expensive, which is a problem,” he said in the same video.
The former KKR player feels the Sri Lanka spin duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana are decent but they are not of the same quality as Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine.
“You have two overseas spinners, and seeing both of them, you won’t say that they have got someone like Sunil Narine with Rashid Khan. They are decent bowlers. I am not saying that they are bad bowlers, but they are not the same. So you will have to win the match with batting only,” Chopra observed.
RR will take on DC in Delhi on Wednesday.
